In Pain We Found Love
by CharcoalCrow97
Summary: When you have a talent and know how to use it, you'll grow into a great person. You can break through anything with your success. But somehow, being talented can cause a pain, and not all people can bear the pain. If two people are sharing their pains, can they make it through together? [OC x Sousuke] [BoyxBoy] -I'm so bad with title and summary, please forgive me-
1. Chapter 1

**A/N : Hello, guys! So, this my first try making a fanfiction. And this time I'm making a fanfic from Free! Well, the focus of the story is the pairing of my Original Character and Sousuke Yamazaki. Well, the reason is, Sousuke needs so much love and I don't feel he got that much in the main story. Quite a silly reason for me, but it just that I love him so much.**

 **A little bit of warning though, this story is YAOI or BOYxBOY. If you don't like reading any of that, I suggest you leave now.**

 **Alright, the rating might be changed to M. But for now, I set it to T. I hope you guys enjoy reading this!**

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Disclaimer : I don't own Free! and its' characters. I only own my OC.

 **CHAPTER 1**

Kai Roberts, borned biracial in the United States. My father, Kenneth Roberts was from US and my mother, Sayaka Suzumiya, was from Japan. Living a daily life as biracial person was not that hard. But, living with a certain talent, made you believe that life would be that harsh, the world would treat you that harsh. It took me several realizations to understand that.

When I was 6 years old, I found out a collection of tapes of my mother as a professional figure skater. Sayaka Suzumiya. She was called The Fairy in Ice. She got that on the times she was active with figure skating. I watched every single tape of her performing and her moves were fluid, elegant, and powerful. When she moves her hands, it looked like she was casting a spell and made us fell in love with her. I couldn't count how many times my jaw dropped after her performances ended. How I wished I could do figure skating as well as Mother.

I watched those tapes for so many times, for several days. Mother eventually found out that I was secretly watching her tape. Not that she was open on the fact that she was a figure skater. She wasn't angry when she found out. She joined me, to my shock, watching one of her performances with me. She hummed to the music that played and I thought she was reminiscing when she was on the ice rink. When the tape ended, my mother let out a small sigh, but I was clapping and praising her.

"Mother, you were really awesome! And you were also really beautiful and flawless, like a princess!" Mother laughed at my comment,

"What about now? Am I still awesome, beautiful, and flawless like back then?" Mother asked.

"You're always awesome, beautiful, and flawless!" I giggled and then Mother patted my head.

"Thank you, sweet pea. Let's go eat dinner, shall we? Father should be coming home soon." Mother said. "'Kay 'kay!" I walked towards the door but then Mother called me so I stopped on my tracks.

"Sweet pea? Will you do me one favor?" I looked at her with a confused face. "Never, watch these tapes again." Mother said with a very stern face. The face that always shows if she was angry.

"B-But, why?" I asked her. "Just, don't. Please, sweet pea." Mother told me, her face turned into a worried one.

"B-But, I really want to try what you did, Mother. And one day, I want to ask you to teach me how to figure skate." Mother closed her eyes and squeezed her nose bridge. "I knew that someday this would happen."

Mother whispered to herself and then she looked at me again. "Are you really sure you want to this?" Mother asked firmly. "…Yes. I really want to try, Mother." I looked at her eyes to show her my determination.

After a while, Mother sighed again. "Alright then. I will teach you to figure skate. I should let your father know." My mother's decision put a cheerful smile on my face and then I ran to hug my hand. "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much, Mother!" She hugged me back, "Yes, yes, you're welcome, sweetpea. Now, let's eat dinner. Your father should come home very soon."

When my father came home, we enjoyed dinner while Mother told him about me trying to do figure skating. His face was first surprised and then he was laughing, finally he turned really serious. Father and Mother did take figure skating as a serious sport. They did not take it lightly. My mother explained to me this and that, a literal 101 for figure skating. The next morning, my mother and I went to an ice skating rink. She taught me all the basic skills, the posture, and many other things. I always had the drive to learn faster, but my mother always told me to keep one at a time. We always had training together about 1-2 hours a week. And sometimes, my mother let me practice myself so I could know my current ability and what to improve. My mother just gave me practical advices, more like, how should I feel when I do this move, and so on.

After 2 years of training and experienced how it felt to be a figure skater, it was a tough road. And because of that, I couldn't help but to extend my training regime. My mother wasn't kidding on how painful it is if you had an accident. Well, it's not that I had a terrible accident or some sort. Sometimes I fell and it was not a good sensation, of course. Everytime I fell, I realized right after that I did something wrong. Mother always told me, if I practiced jumps and then repeatedly fall, then I've been doing nothing but practicing myself to only fall. 3 years after that, I'd been stabilizing and refining my skating skills. Figure skating is not just a sport. It's a sport with artistic side. So, while I was practicing my skills, my mother also invited some of her friends to help incorporated my moves with music.

Another 2 years had passed, and I was old enough to enter the junior championship. To be honest, I was really afraid. The pressure of showing your skills in front of many people and a set of judges were scaring me out.

"Kai, sweet pea, I know you've been telling you want to do figure skating just for fun. And I know well that this is where you can get as much freedom as you can. But, won't you try once for a championship?" My mother asked me gently.

"It's little bit challenging and intimidating than the usual, but you'll find more fun when people are praising you." I was a little unconvinced because I was still afraid and regarding how intorverted I was, I just afraid to do anything in front of many people.

"Okay, I'll promise you, after the championship, if you're not feeling that a championship is not your thing, you can stop. I won't push you any further than this. How about it?" After few moments of thinking and reconsidering, I said yes.

"I'll give it a try. Hopefully, I won't embarrass my self." I said. "You won't. I believe in your skills. Besides, doing this will help you finish that promise list of yours, right? You wrote that you want to be less introverted."

She was right at that point. "Alright, mother. You got me. Let's just get on with preparing for the championship. I need to be able to do triple jumps." Mother just laughed it off like she doubted I would learn that any time soon.

About several weeks of preparing for the championship, I tried really hard. My mother and I already discussed what should I do for both my short program and free skating program, and we decided to not do anything extreme, but not standard either. The day of the championship, I was really nervous, both my mother and my father had been nothing but supporting me. Although, it's not a championship to qualify skaters who can compete to nationals, I was still feeling nervous. My tummy was churned because of it.

"Kai, you'll be fine. Just remember what we had practiced. Remember that this ice rink is your palace and you decide what you want to do in it."

I took a deep breath and released it. I turned my head to see the crowds. It's not many, but it's still intimidating. Then, I saw my father in the supporter seat, waving two small flags, vigorously, with his both hands. And there was a big "K" written on the flag. I smiled at Father. He's always been a sweet person. No wonder Mother fell for him.

My short program went without a hitch, I scored myself a pretty good score, and I was placed second at the moment.

"It's almost your turn. Remember the routine, sweetpea. Goodluck." My mother hugged me. "Thank you, Mother."

After the skater before me finished, it's my turn to perform the free skating session. I skated to the middle of the rink. I pull my legs a little bit apart from each other, lifting my left hand up and then my right hand only until the middle of it. When the music started, I began my step sequence, following the classic music beat. I thought of this routine as me getting to know my castle. I moved my hands as graceful as I can, remembering how my mother did it when she was still figure skating. I began spinning as I thought that this castle of mine was so enormous and I could do anything in here. But, I felt that I was still trapped. I needed my castle to take my colours. So, I did my jump as if I was spreading my colours to my castle. Then, I did my combination of jumps too add more colours. I felt that I was happy enough that I could put a life to my castle. I skated around again to delve further into my castle. I laid my back while I skated to feel the happiness and warm of my castle. I returned to my normal stance as I felt that one part of my castle was not complete. I sensed something horrible and I couldn't let that tainted my castle. I skated towards the disturbing part and it was indeed a troubling feel. I jumped and I spinned as the troubling feeling tried to make me wear its colours. When I was safe enough, I gained my composure and started to do my best scratch spin. I was starting steady and soon enough I gained speed that I spinned really fast as if I was spreading my colours rapidly. And finally, the troubling feeling disappeared. My castle was finally complete.

After I pushed myself back to the reality, I was met with huge round of applause. It wasn't this many after I finished my short program, but I was glad that they liked this more. I bowed to them and then I went out from the ice rink.

"You did it, Kai!" My mother immediately hugged me. "I'm so proud of you! Your performance was outstanding!" This proud feeling just washed over me and I couldn't feel happier for myself.

"Really, Mother?" My mother nodded to me and then she led me so I could see the final score.

"The scores please." The announcer said. "Kai Roberts has earned in the free skating, **149.65**." The crowd started to cheer and I was gawking at the score because to me it was quite high.

"And the total score is… **224.83**! Kai Roberts is in the first place."

My thought was going everywhere, trying to comprehend that I won first place. My very first gold medal. My mother hugged me from me side and then I turned to her.

"Kai! Sweetpea! I am so proud of you. You're just beyond amazing." I hugged my mother back and after that I stood up and bowed to everyone in the stadium.

Father ran to me afterwards and then he hugged me tight, lifting me then spinning around. "My boy is taking over the center stage! Oh, I'm so so proud of you, sweet pea." I laughed from the sensation and after a while my father put me down.

"After this, we're going to celebrate, okay? You deserved it." Then, I was given my first gold medal and I held it with pride as many photographers took pictures from the gold, silver, and bronze medalists. Father took me to a fancy sushi restaurant that I always liked and we ate so happily there.

"Kai, now that you have tasted how it is to compete in the championship and even won your very first gold medal, how do you feel right now? Still want to continue? Remember, I still hold my promise."

I thought that figure skating was a sport that I really like. I love it so much. Doing this had been nothing but fun and invigorating. Feeling the new sensation when I competed in the championship, it made me just want to explore more. I want to be more skilled in this. I want to be more special.

"I want to continue, Mother. I think I'm ready for this adventure." My mother responded with her most gentle smile and my father did too.

"Alright then. You can depend on me to make you the greatest figure skater out there." My mother said. But then, her face turned into a frown, and she was glancing to the other way, as if she was trying to remember something.

"What is it, Mother?" My mother finally looked at me in the eyes.

"I've been trying…I mean…I really wanted to tell you, why did I retire from being a figure skater." I gasped shortly and I saw my father eyes went wide. "H-Honey, if you still uncomfortable-" My mother put her hand on his. "It's okay, darling. I'm ready." Then she turned again at me.

"Well, it happened when I was still quite young. Maybe when I was in the mid to late twenties. My career as a professional figure skater was still sky rocketing. It's beyond me that my career would go that high. But, I kept going because figure skating was my passion. I was at a national championship one time, and it was in US. That's when I met your father. He was one of my fans that have guts to approach me. We, communicate to each other soon after, to stop him for screaming out my name too loud in front of many people in the city. We talked and we found many similarities between us. There's still one week before the championship started and I was staying at one hotel. We… Well, I admit we were too hasty so I invited him to my room. And we spent one night together. You must not know the details until you're older enough. And in that hotel, I was staying with the other competitors, including my rival. Ugh, saying her name would make me sick, so I won't say it. Few days later, I realised that I'm not feeling well. I suddenly wanted to throw up and I was worried if I were pregnant. So, I called your father. Thankfully, he's still responsible for his actions, so he quickly decided to meet me in the hotel. We wanted to make sure, so I did a pregnancy test. I went into the bathroom nearby in the lobby and did it. And the result was suprisingly positive. I panicked of course, what should I do? Obaa-chan and Ojii-chan really hate it if I were pregnant before I'm even married. I prepared myself to how should I bring the news to your father. I came out and tell your father about it. He panicked even more. But then, someone surprised us, which was my rival. Without my knowing, she was recording my panic rumbling that I was pregnant, inside one of the stalls. She recorded me and decided to play dirty, by blackmailing me. I couldn't believe she would do such thing, just for a gold medal. She wanted me to drop out from the championship, then retire and never show up again in the figure skating sport, and in return, the rumor won't spill. I only had time to think until the day before the championship began, and it was only 2 days left. They were two of my most stressful day in my life. She played me well, so I decided to give up my career and return to Japan, then soon, arrange a marriage."

My mother let out a huge sigh and I had mixed feelings. I couldn't believe that such person was even alive and I wished that she experienced an agonizing pain until she's dead. My motivation just went bigger after hearing her, even though my mother couldn't achieve her dream, I wanted to be her dream.

"Your father kept blaming himself, but I kept telling him that it's not, it's our fault. But, I told him to stop saying it because I don't want you to be our mistake. We want you to be our blessing, Kai."

My mother clasped my both hands and her tears dropped from both of her eyes. And so did a tear from my right eye. "I-I will do my best, Mother. I want to reassure you that I'm your greatest blessing."

My mother pulled me into a hug and then my father joined us. _I will grow into an amazing figure skater and you will be really proud me_ , so I thought.

Until I was 15, I joined as many championships as I could. And I managed to achieve 2 gold medals and 1 silver medal. The silver medal I got after the first championship that I joined, and then the next 2 gold medals I got from the next championships. My life as a figure skater was slowly and surely growing into a promising future. I always set a new record for my personal score in every championship that I participated. I also grew to have some competitors who hated me, but acted really friendly just because of the media. Well, me? I liked myself to be neutral. And I was so glad to have some adoring fans. It's cute when I received many gifts from them after I performed. It surprised me that I have many fans when I was at high school. It was just my first year and several girls, from first years to third years, were swarming me. Sure, it gave me some seriously intimidating glares from the eyes of jealous boys. I wouldn't mind in the end. I can deflect all of those stares and still walking alive. But, things went pretty upside down, when I saw something was posted on the news, that I was banned from figure skating sports. I didn't know how to react, to think, or even to breathe anymore. The world around me was already falling down and I hoped the earth could swallow my body right now.

"Kai? Kai?! Kai, what happened?! Your water is spilling over your shirt!"

-To be continued-

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 **A/N : Probably you're wondering why I chose figure skating. Well, I love figure skating since I was a kid. I just find it as the most beautiful sport I ever seen. And, right now I'm just going to show you a little bit of Kai's history. But, since I've been telling you this story with his point of view, it doesn't mean you know everything about him. Many things about him that will be revealed about him in the future chapters.**

 **I hope you like this story and want to keep reading this. I am sorry for any grammatical errors since English is not my mother tongue.**

 **And pleaseeee leave a review! It would be gladly appreciated. See you at the next chapter, amigos! Ciao~**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N : Hello again, guys! I decided to update as soon as possible because I really enjoy writing this! And thank you guys who gave me the reviews! I deeply appreciated it. The more reviews I got, the more hyped I am with writing this. So, your supports help too! Let's just get to the story, aye?**

 **Warning : boy x boy, don't like don't read**

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Disclaimer : I don't own Free! and its' characters, I only own my OCs

 **CHAPTER 2**

"Kai? Kai?! Kai, what happened?! Your water is spilling over your shirt!" I was woken up from my trance when my good friend from middle school, Jamie, shook me.

"Shit! Oh, God! I'll head to the restroom." I quickly made my way towards the rest room, ignoring several curious glances towards me. When I reached the restroom, I quickly dialed my mother's number. "C'mon, Mother, please, I need help." After few rings, my mother answered.

"Hello, sweet pea. What's the m-" I quickly cut her in, "Mother, have you seen the news?!" I told her, "News? What news?" My mother asked.

"I AM BANNED! I CAN'T COMPETE IN FIGURE SKATING ANYMORE!" There was a momentarily silence after I said that and I heard the phone fell. Then, I heard rumbling and I thought that my mother was looking for the news.

"S-Sweat pea?" My mother finally responded, "What in the world happened?" she asked. "I don't know, Mother, I. DON'T. KNOW!" I found myself almost teared myself up, "I was just about to have lunch and when I opened my phone, I found that news! I didn't know how to react, Mother." I tried to calm myself down, but I kept panicking.

"Okay, Kai. What I'm going to do right now is going to identify the problem. Then, I want you to calm down and focus on your study for today. We'll figure something out, okay?" My mother assured me and I began to calm down. "O-okay, Mother. Thank you so much. I could've died from panic attack if you weren't here for me." I wiped the tears on my eyes. I tried to control my breathing again.

"Alright, I'll pick you up after school. Just stay calm, sweet pea. You're going to be okay." I nodded to myself. "Thanks, Mother." I hung up the phone and return to the cafeteria.

I met Jamie who was still eating at our table. "Kai? What happened? Are you okay?" Jamie asked me, looked at me with a worried face. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just another silly thing. Don't worry."

Then, Jamie looked at me with a confused face. "Okay, but if something happened, you'll tell me, right?" I turned to smile at her. "Of course. And you too."

We ate our lunch and after that we continued to study until the school's over for the day. Jamie and I parted ways since she was busy preparing herself to join the student council and I went to the parking lot to find my mother. When I saw her car, I immediately ran to her and went in.

"M-Mother, did you find anything?" I saw my mother gripped the steering wheel really tight. I held my knee tight to brace myself. "Kai." My mother turned at me with her stern face. "Are you on drugs?"

I was confused. Beyond confused. My mother explained to me that the reason I was banned, it's because I was accused using performance-enhancing drugs. It was not true at all, I thought. So, my mother and I came to my defense. We tried to prove that I didn't use that kind of drugs. My mother explained her position as my coach and told them that I didn't use any of those drugs. But, to our shock, there was an evidence, which was a picture of a man and I exchanging what it looked like a small prescription of drugs when I was at the outside of my changing room. I told them, it wasn't that performance-enhancing drug. I told them I was asking for parasetamol because I had a quite troubling headache and I didn't want it to be a hindrance to my performance. But, somehow the small bottle looked like the bottle of the performance-enhancing drug. I couldn't prove anything more. I already dumped the bottle, knowing that prescription was enough for only one use. I was desperate. I begged but they didn't believe me. In the end, they decided that I was banned for 2 years.

At the end of my defence, I met my rival Lucas Tillman. I really hated his guts since the day he showed up to my face for the first time. His thirst of popularity was really sickening. And, it was bad enough for me that he's the first to know that I was banned. Like, why in the world, from all people, he must be the one to witness my fall?

"You should've been more careful, Kai. But, I'm really gonna miss you, rival." His face was all sad and sorrow, but I knew deep inside he was sprouting joy. Yeah, right. It's without a doubt.

I went home and shared the shocking news to my father. He was surprised and then suddenly went angry. But Mother told him, that it was already too late. It's already decided anyway. _2 years won't hurt, right?_ , I thought, _I'm not going to stop from being a professional figure skater_. But I didn't know how wrong I was. The next day, I was really surprised that the news of me being banned was spreading like wild fire. People were starting to suspect me for bad things, some laughed at me, especially the jealous boys. People were starting to leave me alone. They would say that hanging with someone like me would give you a bad influence. Even the worst thing was I was suspected that I'm to other drugs. I tried to fight back, but it's no use. Jamie, who was always with me, kept supporting me. Although, she joined the student council, people there told her to stay away from me because it would give such a bad image for a student council member hanging out with a bad seed. So, I noticed soon enough that she started to distance herself from me. In the end, I had no one that I can be with in school, except my homeroom teacher. He didn't believe that I wasn't using drugs. He's a PE teacher. He knew that I have excessive stamina that I don't even need to use drugs. He was really sweet, but I couldn't take risk of ruining his reputation as a teacher with spending a lot of time with him. But, he's a really good listener. He would see me and checked me out most of the time because everyday it was painful for me. I wished that I didn't have to go to school when everytime I go there, it just really stressful. I always came home looking awfully stressed. My mother, she always tried to cheer me up, but I just put up a forced pained smile and went straight to my room. My father would always treat me something nice or distracted me with other things to do, but it's just that, the pain was never relieved.

I couldn't believe that the scandal with me and drugs, was destroying my life little by little. I'd been surviving for a whole year, and it was time for me to receive my report card. I came with my father and my mother to meet my homeroom teacher. They discussed about many things, especially my situation.

"Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, I would like to address something, regarding the situation of Kai and his surroundings in this school." I looked down to my feet because I know the discussion will go quite unpleasant.

"Yes, Mr. Gaillard?" My mother responded. Then, my teacher cleared his throat, "Well, I put a lot of thoughts about this and seeing Kai's condition everytime I see him in school. I didn't think, it's good anymore, or even healthier for him, if he stays here. I'm saying here as the person who really cares about him the most in this school, because I can't stand seeing him being pushed away, bullied, or hiding in the bathroom stalls. The feeling of being unwanted, it's just too much for him. I want him to grow to be a healthy young lad, but if he keeps staying here, it just going to break him, eventually. I don't want this environment to cause him any further damage."

Both of my parents were silent, hearing Mr. Gaillard opinion. And I felt my tears were welling up and then I looked at Mr. Gaillard. He looked at me with his concerned face.

"We know, sir. It's also painful for us to see our son looked stressed everyday after he goes home from school. We were thinking, if we should move to another country." I turned to my father who just spoke.

"T-To where?" My father then looked at me. "To Japan. To your mother's home."

Then my mother turned to speak, "But how about you, darling? I can't let you give up your job just to go to Japan." My father frowned at the statement. He knew that moving to Japan would make him to sacrifice his old job in the US.

"I know, darling, I know." My father rubbed his hand on my mother's. "I'll find a way, so I can still do my work in Japan. I've been really trying to, but just give me a time."

There was momentarily silence and then my teacher broke it. "I understand you're having difficulties here, but I hope that you can solve this soon. If you're already set, just tell me so I can take care of Kai's resignation." After the meet was concluded, we went home right away. Everything was silence when we were at home. I looked at my mother and my father, then they told me to go to my room. When the night came, we were having a dinner, but it still had the same tension as it was in the afternoon.

"Kai?" My father started. "Your mother and I, we have discussed some things, regarding our move to Japan. You and your mother should go to Japan, without me."

I looked at him with shock, "W-Wha… T-Then, what about you? You're staying here?" I saw my father's eyes faltering and he couldn't look at me. "I-It's just for a few months. A year, at best." _A year?_ , I thought.

"W-Why is it always like this? You guys always made decisions without considering my vote if I'm agree to this or not?! Well, I don't want you to stay here! I want you, to go with us! Mother must be disagreed with you! She would help you to find a job there, don't you trust her?! She would do anything for you, don't you trust her?!"

My father then stood up, towering me, anger drawn all over his face. "Kai Alexei Roberts! How dare you raise your voice towards your father! I decide this for our own good! For your OWN good!" My father yelled at me.

"B-But, do you really think that not being here with me and mother is good for me? Well guess what? It's not! I need you so much, and so my mother. You just don't know what's good for me!" I put stood up and then ran to my room. "Kai!", My father called me but I kept running to my room.

I entered my room and then slammed the door hard. I laid my back against the door and then slid to the ground. I was crying really hard, my tears were hot, it was a mixed feeling, angry and sad. He didn't know how much I needed his support too.

Several minutes later, I heard a few knocks on my door. "Kai, can you open the door, please?" I let him be, "I'm…I'm sorry for yelling at you. I haven't explained everything to you. Can you please let me talk this out to you?"

I walked to the door my hand stopped at the doorknob. I didn't turn it, yet. "You should know that I really love you. You're my greatest treasure. I will never do anything to lose you." I turned the doorknob then, and open the door for a little bit. I walked to my bed and sat on it.

My father finally opened the door and the look on his face was regret. He approached me then crouched so he's on the same eye level as I. My father wiped the tears that were still running down and then he held my hands with his.

"Kai. I'm really sorry. Father also really stressed about this decision. It's a hard choice to make. I also do not want to let you both go. I really care about you and your mother, beyond everything in this world. Your mother told me, if I started something new there, it would took a long time for me to able to support our family. And your mother can't work as much as she can as a fashion designer when we moved to Japan. You know your mother sometimes needs to travel a lot because of her occupation. Both of us are having difficulties with our jobs and moving to Japan. So, I'd decided and then told her, that I've been trying to suggest an idea to open a branch in Tokyo, Japan. You know that my company is international now. I could use some favors from my colleagues back at work and they can help me build a new branch in Tokyo. But, I know it will take some time, just give a few months until one year, and I will come straight away to Japan, to you and mother." I nodded at him and tears started to fall down again.

"You will be okay, son. I know. You really need my support but I want you to be strong. Now, will you do me a favor? Be a good boy and look out for your mother until I come back?" Father looked at me in the eye.

"O-Of course, Father." I said. "That's my boy. Come here." Then, I jumped to hug him and cried on his shoulder, while he's stroking my hair.

The next few days, my resignment from my high school was already done. I said my goodbye to Mr. Gaillard. I also sent an email to Jamie.

 _Dear Jamie Stevenson,_

 _Thank you so much for all the time we spent together. I'm moving to Japan right now. My parents and I decided to move there because my parents worried about me if I stay too long in the US. I just want to let you know that because you're still a good friend to me. I will wait for your response! I hope you make a successful life there. Good luck with your student council!_

 _From your dearest friend,_

 _Kai_

After that, my father took mother and I to the airport. My father waited for both mother and I until we're entering the gate. "Thank God your mother taught you Japanese. If she didn't, I wonder how you can survive." My mother laughed at me and I joined her.

"Well, it's just about adapting on hearing them talking now. I'll be okay." My mother nodded to me and then she suddenly frowned.

"Mother, what's wrong?" I asked her. "I'm… I am sorry, Kai. If only… If only I didn't push you, even ask you to do figure skating, we won't be experiencing this, especially you." I sighed a little and then I held her hands. "It's okay, Mother. I'm sorry too for disappointing you, if I wasn't careless, none of this would happen."

My mother looked at me with a teary eye. "No! I told you so many times before it's not your fault. Your father and I believe you. We believe you're not on drugs. It's just a terrible coincidence, your medicine and that drug." My mother said to me.

"Thanks, Mother. You know, I think I don't have the drive anymore to become a well-known professional figure skater, just like you. I'm still young, so I still have time to figure out myself, to know what I'm passion about. And it doesn't have to be a professional figure skater." I kind of knew it's not true and my mother looked at me with this pained smile. We both know that we're traumatized by this.

"You guys need to stop frowning and draw some happy face to yourselves. It would definitely ruin your beautiful faces." My father suddenly told us. Both mother and I looked surprised but then we laughed.

"Aw, stop, darling. I'm not that young anymore." Then my father came to my mother and pecked her lips.

"But you're still my Ice Fairy." He grinned at her. My mother put both her hands on his cheeks. "You better come back to us as soon as possible, okay? That's an order." My father responded with his cheeky grin, "Yes, ma'am."

My mother put a kiss on his forehead. "I guess it's time for us to go." My mother said and all of us stood up. My father opened his arm and snuggled both mother and I. His tall figure always made us feel safe and warm.

"I'm going to miss you, Father. Be safe, okay?" I told him. "I know. Both of you, too. Keep smiling and wait for me, okay?"

"Okay"

We finally got on our plane. And the plane had finally departed. My mother told me stories about her time in Japan especially her hometown.

"Iwatobi. There's my hometown. It's a very calm place, I say. Especially the beach, oh how I love the beach. It's so blue and breathtaking. Oh, right, you haven't seen much of them, have you? We only took you there when you're still a baby and when Ojii-chan passed away, of course you can't remember much." I laughed along when my mother told me various funny stories of her back at her hometown.

"So, how did you find out about figure skating?" I asked her.

"Well, I was still a little and one day my friend took me to an ice rink nearby town. We were really having fun and all. I was able to learn quickly because I was athletic back then. I still am of course. And because I was able to learn quickly, I grown an interest towards it. Sometimes, after school, I would go straight to the ice rink to skate. And one day, I met my coach. He saw my potential and he introduced me to figure skating. Boy, talk about hard work. He was really trained me like a maniac. I hope I wasn't like that, was I?" I shook my head quickly. "Well, that's about it and I started to compete and until I grew really famous." She told me.

"Then, how about your friends now? That introduced you to ice skating." I asked her. "Well, all of them did not find that ice skating as their hobby. They found another sports to like. One of my friends likes to swim. He was really good at that. Oh, another friend of mine also likes classical music. She was playing in an orchestra. It was really fun to watch them."

My mother sure had a lot of fun back then. I wonder if I could get a lot of fun too like that in there. "Sweet pea, I just remember. Back when I still active figure skating, I was helping this friend of mine. She's actually the owner of the ice rink I used to go. Well, I heard she open a class for kids and teens to learn who want to learn to skate. After I went international, I stopped visiting her. Do you mind if we go pay her a visit? I just want to make sure that everything is okay. I owe her a lot." I looked at my mother with a reassuring smile.

"Of course not. It makes me wonder since you've been telling me a lot about it." My mother chuckled at my response. "Thank you very much, sweet pea."

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 **A/N : Phew, this story turned around really seriously. But, I hope you like this! And Sousuke will come really soon, so you wait a little longer! Thanks for reading guys! And please leave me a review, hehehe! See ya!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N : Hello, guys! I'm back :') Sorry, it took a bit long, because I have other stuff to do. But, I'm glad I can finally update. I'm really exciting to write this actually. And thank you so much, guys, for the kind reviews, and for you guys who fave and follow this story. Also, I want you guys to check my profile, because I put a bit description of Kai here. So, make sure you check that! Alright, enjoy this chapter, guys!**

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Disclaimer : I don't own Free! I only own my OCs!

 **CHAPTER 3  
**

We landed on Japan, finally. But, I was having a jet lag. My mother, she was completely fine. Well, that's what you got for travelling a lot.

"Kai, the cab is here. We should get going."

My mother called me and quickly went inside the car. My head was throbbing and the plane was not really comfortable. My neck was hurting a bit. I took a quick nap until we reached Iwatobi.

"Sweet pea, we have arrived."

We're in front of a house, with the houseplate that was written "Suzumiya" on it. We're here. The house wasn't that big, but it wasn't that small either. It's a modern yet still have a Japanese look on it. Well, my new home sweet home.

 **A/N : From now on, the text if it's spoken in Japanese it will be just a normal, and if it's spoken in English, it will be a bold and italic text.**

"Oh my, if it isn't Saya-chan and Kai-chan. Come in, come in!"

Obaa-chan led us inside and I couldn't remember that the house was pretty big and la ittle bit fancy. That reminded me that my mother told me that Ojii-chan was a business tycoon. He built many hotels all around Japan and some on other countries. Mother said that the hotel was still rated 5 stars.

"I've been waiting so long to see all of you." Obaa-chan smiled at us.

"I'm sorry, Mother. The plane was delayed a bit." My mother replied and then behind Obaa-chan came a very tall young man, with a black hair, wearing a teal shirt and a black pants.

"Ah, Sousuke-kun? Is that really you? You've grown so much!" My mother said. He knew this guy? "Good evening, Sayaka-san. It's nice to see you again."

When I looked at his face, he is…really scary. He frowned when he looked at me. I was too scared so I asked my mother in English.

" ** _Mother, do you know him? How do you know him?_** " and then out of nowhere, "Sousuke-kun. I want you to meet my son." Then she looked at me, "Come on, Kai, introduce yourself to him." How cruel. I just want to ask his name to you, not to the person directly. I quietly stood up and looked at him. I had to look up because how tall he was.

"N-Nice to meet y-you. I'm Kai Roberts. It's okay if you want to call me Kai." I believed I still not get used to speaking Japanese. But oh well. "So am I and I'm Sousuke Yamazaki."

I returned to my seat and Obaa-chan explained to me that his father was the next executive director who runs Ojii-chan's hotels. My mother even told me that Yamazaki-san's father was one of her close friends and he's the one who interested in swimming. Sousuke was also doing swimming. Well, that explained it, that tall and muscular body of his. He said that he's currently a third year at the Samezuka Academy, an all-boys school. Since his father was working with Ojii-chan, their family was also close to ours. Sousuke told us that he frequently visited here on most of his free time. Obaa-chan actually took care a lot of him when he was still in Iwatobi. His parents weren't home at much, so Obaa-chan decided to take care of him so he wouldn't be alone. It made me think that Mother got her kindness affectionate side from Obaa-chan.

"Oh, it's already late, Kai, you should get to sleep. We need to take care of your transfer at Iwatobi High School, first thing tomorrow." Mother said to me. I nodded to her and then I helped Mother cleaning up things.

"Then, I should take my leave. The last train tonight will be coming soon." Sousuke told us and then he got up to bow to Obaa-chan. "Alright, my dear. Just be careful on your way back." Obaa-chan replied. "Take care." Both Mother and I told him. He looked kind of surprised when he looked at me, but I just smiled at him.

Mother showed me to my bedroom. It was actually her room when she was still a little. It's still clean and some of her stuffs were still there. Mother was reminiscing when she looked over her stuffs and that made me realize in this small rural place, Mother created so many memories. To me, the best part of the room was that my room actually connects to the back yard. Well, the view of the back yard could be seen from the glass doors. When I went out from those doors, I found out that there was a door that connects the front yard to the back yard. And, the first thing that came out from my thought was that I can easily snoop out. That's amazing. After a little tour of my room, I decided to take a good night sleep.

The next morning, after we quickly managed my transfer to Iwatobi High School, I was appointed to Class 2-1. I was already with my uniform.

"Good morning, class." My homeroom teacher came in and I was trailing behind him. "Today, I'm going to introduce to all of you, your new classmate, starting today." Then he looked at me. "Please introduce yourself."

I nodded at him and then when I looked at in front of the class, I got various faces and whispers. High probability was that I looked foreign. "Good morning, everyone. My name is Kai Roberts. I just moved from America. It's very nice to meet you all." They kept eyeing me like I was some thing ready for sale.

But then, "It's nice to meet you, too, Kai-chan!" a response came from a cheerful guy with a honey-blond hair, which looked funny to me. And he used –chan on me, which annoyed me a little bit. I smiled at him regardless, and then a guy next to him, whose hair was blue and wearing eyeglasses, was elbowing him.

"Right, to get you to your seat. Let's see… There!" He spotted an empty seat in the second row from the back, next to the window.

"Can anyone near him just lend your book just for today?" And yeah, I sat next to that happy orange guy from before. "Hello, Kai-chan! Here, let me lend you my book."

Throughout the class, I had been trying really hard to understand the whole material. When Japanese was not my mother tongue, I had to do double work to understand them. At the last period, I felt that my brain was a little bit fried. What I needed to dunk my head to water or, ice skate.

" ** _Who am I kidding, it will make me remember the bad memories._** " I told myself. And then, someone jumped behind me.

"Hello, Kai-chan!"

I yelped at the sudden attack. I turned around to find that Nagisa who scared me.

"H-Hazuki, you're scaring me. Thank God I didn't smack you." Nagisa smiled while scratching the back of his head.

"S-Sorry, I didn't mean to." Nagisa laughed.

"So, have you adapted to this school yet?" He asked.

"W-Well, not really. I still want to figure out what I want to do in this school."

Nagisa put a hand on his chin and then scratching it. "Hmm… How about joining clubs? It would help you figure out what you want to do."

Then, Rei joined from behind Nagisa. "Well, we have variety of club activities in our school. From sports and non-sports. Why don't you check them all, one by one?" Rei told me.

"Especially the swim club, you should go and see!" I looked at Nagisa after he told me that.

"Why should I?" I realized that my question was kind of cold, but it didn't affect Nagisa.

"Because it's fun! Swimming is fun and the people there are also fun to hang to." Rei sighed at his comment.

"Don't push him too much, Nagisa." And Nagisa pouted, which made me laugh, at the response.

"Alrighty, I should go take a look around and see which ones interest me. Thank you very much, guys! I'll see you soon."

Then, Nagisa and Rei waved at me. "We'll see you soon, Kai-chan! Good luck finding the right club!"

So, after I asked around the school to get to know each clubs, I found sports clubs such as tennis club, basketball club, rugby club, table tennis club, track club, judo club, kendo club, and track club. The possibility for me to join any of them was none. And then, I also found some cultural clubs, such as photo club, art club, and caligraphy club. Well, I could join the art club since I was in elementary I liked to draw sketches of scenery. But, they were kind of desperate. I thought that I would check that club later. I was interested with the photo club too. I owned a DSLR so that wouldn't be a problem.

But, there's one club remaining, which was the swim club. I was not so sure to join the swimming club, but I knew in the past that Father trained me to swim. Well, the truth is he was an Olympic swimmer. But, to my surprise his passion was not in swimming. He's interested in sports science and health. I remembered what he said that being an Olympic swimmer was only a stepping stone. He used that opportunity to learn and that led him to his job that he's taking at the time. Father suggested swimming to me, although he knew my passion was figure skating, but he said that it's great to be skilled at other sports. So, I took the chances and learned as many as I want.

As I walked around the school hallway, I saw Nagisa and Rei again. This time, they were walking with two other boys. One with black hair and one with brown hair. Their presences told me that they're third years. The light brown hair guy was really tall and big. It reminded me of Sousuke.

"Kai-chan!" The cheerful voice called to me again. I approached them and greeted them. "How was touring the clubs? Find any good ones?" Rei asked me.

"None really piqued my interest. The very clubs that piqued a little of my interest were only the art club and the photo club." I told him.

"Ah, so you can draw, Kai-chan?" I looked at Nagisa who asked me. "Y-Yeah. But, not that good."

Realizing that I might look rude to those two seniors, I turned to them and greet them. "Haru-chan, Mako-chan, this is Kai-chan. The new transfer student from our class." Nagisa told the two. The black haired guy was named Haruka Nanase and the brown hair guy was named Makoto Tachibana.

"It's nice to meet you Nanase-senpai, Tachibana-senpai. Anyway, Hazuki, I was wondering about the swim club. Do you know about them? Since you looked really hyped about the swim club last time we talked." Nagisa and Makoto face lighten up at my question

"You want to join us, Kai-chan?" Nagisa asked me with hype.

"W-Well, I just want to check it out first. But, are the four of you the members of the swim club?" I asked.

"Yeah. Only four of us who swim in this club." Makoto replied.

"I see… Then, is this a men swimming club?" I asked again.

"Well, in this club we expect the members who really wants to swim for fun. So, we open to anyone. But, looking at us, it might look like a men swimming club." Makoto said.

"Is that so? To be honest, I want to see this swim club, if you don't mind." Then, I got a response from Haruka. "Can you swim? What kind of styles that you have learned?"

I almost forgot what are their names when Father mentioned it, but I always knew the moves. "I can do freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, and backstroke really well. But, my skills are probably crap right now because it's been a few years since I last swam." Haruka only nodded but the others looked expectant.

"That's so cool, Kai-chan! Do you want to test your swimming skills right now?" I surprised at the question but at the same time I felt pressured. _Why it feels like I'm being tested? They do competitions, don't they?_ That's what I thought.

"B-But, I don't have swimsuits right now. How can I swim without one?" I asked. "We'll figure it out. Come on! I can't wait to race you!"

Some time later, we were at a swimming pool and I was given a swimming suit. A girl named Gou Matsuoka, who happened to be their club's manager, gave me one. She was really happy when she saw me, "Yay! I'm so glad we have another guy who wants to join our club!"

I didn't even say yes, yet. So, they decided to test me. They really wanted to test me! I was so nervous, last time I swam was like before I was serious with figure skating championships. I forced myself to remember my training routine with Father. To test me, they set me up to race against one person, each style. Me against Haruka in freestyle, me against Makoto in backstroke, me against Rei in butterfly, and me against Nagisa in breaststroke. I didn't know why I even following this.

I huffed and puffed and then collapsed on the floor after the set of four swimming styles races. Although each of them was 50 meter, I still collapsed. My performance was a bit stepback from how I was before this. But, to my disbelief, I beat the four of them, tightly, like miliseconds, especially with Haruka. He was so damn fast. "You guys…are crazy…you were super fast…like…pros." I said in huffed voice.

"Kai-chan, you're beyond awesome! I believe you can even nailed the Olympics! How did you learn to swim?" Nagisa asked me.

"My…father…I learned from him." I sat up to look at Nagisa, Rei, Makoto, Haruka, and Gou who were surrounding me.

"Your father?" Nagisa asked again. "He trained me really hardcore. But I never joined swimming competitions and such. Only one sports to me that I only bother to join its' competition."

I told them and I felt like an anger welled up inside me because it made me remind figure skating again. "And what is that?" This time Makoto asked me.

"It's something else. To be honest, I was wondering if you guys do competitions. But, this race just answered it, right?" I stood up from the ground and then looked at them. Their looks just like wondering what will be my next move.

"Look, if you remember what I said before, I'm only 'checking' this club out. But, you guys were really pushing me to the point it made me uncomfortable." I turned and made my way to the changing room. I turned my head to them, "Don't expect much from me."

I dried myself and changed back into my school uniform. And then, I heard a door opened and Makoto came in. "Roberts-kun, did-", before he spoke more I cut him in, "Just call me Kai. It will be trouble to pronounce my last name." I told him and then Makoto lightly laughed.

"Alright, then, Kai-kun. Umm, we're really sorry if we pushed you so hard there. I know that we looked really desperate for new members back there." True dat, "As the team captain, I feel ashamed that we really missed our main reason." I raised my eyebrows because of curiousity, "What you said before, it made us looked like we are a team of swimmers who want to swim for competitions, because of how desperate we were. It made me remember something. We don't swim for competitions. We swim because we found it fun. We feel that we are free when we swim." Makoto explained to me.

"It's been stressful when the school expects much from us. So, I think that's why-" I cut his words because I was feeling bad already. "I get it, senpai. I'm sorry too that I put my anger on you guys. I just have something personal with competitions, championships, and anything related to that. And it isn't good. I wasn't really thinking straight. I kind of lost it there and forget that I want to be in a club's activity for fun." I told him.

"Well, I'll reconsider. I'm going to head back. See you, senpai." I walked out from the changing room and said my goodbyes to the others.

I finally reached home and my muscles felt really sore. "I'm home!" I received no response from Obaa-chan and Mother. But then, someone else walked up to the front door. "Ah, Yamazaki-san? You're here today?" I asked him in surprise.

"Yeah. Just watching the house while grandma and your mother are gone." He replied. "Hm? To where?" I asked again. "To the market nearby. They already gone from an hour ago, they should be back soon." Sousuke replied. "Alright, I'm going shower now." He nodded and I walked past him. But then, I heard a sniffing sound, which I bet it was Sousuke's, but I let it go.

After I came down from my room, cleaning myself up, Obaa-chan and Mother still weren't home yet. "Yamazaki-san, are you hungry? I can fix dinner right now if Obaa-chan and Mother aren't home anytime soon."

I looked at him who was watching the TV. "Sure. Can I help you make it?" I smiled at his response. "Y-Yeah. Can you pick up the milk and cheese from the fridge? I'm going to fetch something upstairs."

We were making mac and cheese that night. Sousuke just learned about the recipe from me. I showed him the steps and helped me with cooking.

"Hey, Kai?" I heard Sousuke called me when I was stirring the macaroni and cheese together. "Yeah?" Sousuke sat behind the counter.

"Why did you smell like chlorine when you got home?" Well, that was straightforward. And that explained him sniffing me earlier. I turned to face him with a laddle on my hand.

"I was about to search for a club to join at my school. I met with the school's swim club. And then, to my surprise, I was taken to the swimming pool where they practice. Here, try this." I offered a bit of the mac and cheese, which was on the laddle.

"Is it too salty or not?" Sousuke took a bite and he shook his head, signaling that that it's not salty. I went back to the stove, stirring the mac and cheese.

"And then what happened?" Sousuke asked. "Well, I was told to race against each of their members, in different styles. They are four of them, and each of them raced me with different styles." I told him.

It was a short silence for a while "Did you beat them?" He asked again.

"Yeah, I did. But, I hadn't been swimming for few years, I wasn't confident with my ability at all." I told him.

"So, you swim?" Sousuke threw me another question and I realized that he was kind of scanning me with his stares.

"Y-Yeah, but I'm not aiming for going nationals or something. Eventhough I like it, there's other sport that I like more."

Sousuke kept quiet for a while and before he could ask me another question I already finished my cooking. I poured the mac and cheese into a big bowl and put it in front of him. I also put a spoon in it. "Here. You're big guy and an athlete, so eat." Sousuke looked at me and then he gave me a questioned look.

"This is all for me? How about you?" I pointed at the stove, "There's still a little bit of leftovers. But I'm sure that you can't finish this one bowl, alone." Sousuke grunted. "Thanks for the food."

Several minutes later, Sousuke seemed to slow down. I didn't take any bites before and just look at him eating. "You okay? You know, you just passed half way."

His face was looking at the bowl and it almost likely that he said, I cannot give in but I must give in. I grinned widely noticing that he's about to give up. So, I picked my spoon. "Alright, I'll help you."

I jumped to my seat that was on his right, but then I accidentally bumped into him and he winced painfully. "Hey, careful." He told me off and I said my apology. I ate the mac and cheese with him and he continued to eat slowly.

We finally finished that thing off, including the leftovers. And then we slouched on the sofa. "Why was that so heavy?" Sousuke asked and I chuckled. "Well, I'm known for being able to make a monstrous mac and cheese like that."

We laughed after that and heaved a huge sigh. "But, it was fun. Your face was funny when you're about to give up." I laughed at him. "Shut up," And then he turned his head to me. "But, it's still a good meal. Thanks."

When he smiled at me, I felt heat rising up on my face. _W-what's happening to me_ , that's what I thought. And then, suddenly the front door opened and revealed Obaa-chan and Mother, holding plastic bags. Sousuke immediately helped them with their bags.

"Ah, Sousuke-kun, you're still here? I thought you're already going back to your dorm." Obaa-chan told him. "I'm sorry that we're late. A little bit trouble at the market there." Mother continued.

"It's okay. Is there anything else I can do?" Sousuke asked. "No, we're okay, dear. Thank you. But, have you eat dinner?" Obaa-chan asked. "Yeah, I made him mac and cheese."

Then, Mother face turned into a little bit of horror. "Are your stomach alright, dear? His mac and cheese can be-" Sousuke cut in, "terrifying. I know. But it's still good and I survived, with his help of course." Sousuke pointed his head at my direction and Mother laughed at the response.

"I guess I should head out now. Don't want to miss the last train." Sousuke said. "Okay, then. Thank you so much, Sousuke-kun." Mother said and Obaa-chan also said thank you soon after. "You're welcome."

Then, Sousuke turned to me. "Thanks again for the food, Kai." Sousuke told me. "Sure thing. Be careful on your way back!" I waved at him. Well, I don't know why, but I felt glad. The same feeling when I get new friends.

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 **A/N : So, I'm gonna stop there. How do you think guys? I know, Sousuke is a little bit OOC here, but I want to portray him to be a little bit nice since his family and Kai's family is in good relation. But, you'll find in the future that he will look rough, harsh, and angry. LOL! And maybe I want to explain what's in Kai's mind. He's still in the whirlwind and traumatized because of what happened, so I might say that he's a bit not stable. I can only say that for the start, but he will tell his story in the future chapters, so you just wait.**

 **Thank you so much guys for reading! I hope you give me a review because that will be so awesome and it will make me to work this story faster. I'm sorry for any grammatical errors and such. But if you have any advice or you just want to help me with this story, I'm going to be pleased to hear that. See ya at the next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello again guys! I'm back for another chapter because I want to update as quick as possible. And thank you for the supports you gave to me, guys. Let's just jump to the story, shall we?**

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Disclaimer : I don't own Free!

 **CHAPTER 4**

On one weekend, I walked with my mother to the ice rink where she used to skate. "Here we are." It was not far from my school actually. We both walked inside and we were greeted by a short wavy haired lady with glasses.

"Sayaka!" She exclaimed. My mother went to hug her. "It's been too long. I missed you, well, I missed hanging out together!" My mother told her.

"Welcome back, Sayaka. With you're here, we should really go hang out. Full gang of course." My mother nodded excitedly. "Of course. I can't wait. Well, Eri, I want you to meet my son, Kai." My mother asked me to greet her.

"Hello. I'm Kai. It's nice to meet you." She smiled back at me. "Hello to you, too, sweetheart. It's been too long since I last saw you still wearing diapers. My name's Eri Yomotsuki. I manage this place. Your mother told me so much about you. Especially that you're also really good with figure skating."

I laughed nervously at the statement. "Ah, it's nothing. I'm not 'that' good, Yomotsuki-san." I told her. "Do you want to go for a skate, Kai-kun?" My thought said I don't know, but, "Of course." And there's me trying to relive the bad memories.

I picked my skates and entered the not so crowded ice rink. Unsurprisingly, most youngsters were there. They looked…happy, which was I always felt. When their blades scratch the ice, when they feel the wind pushing through them as they move, it's always a good feeling for me. When I saw them jump, I remembered how it felt for me. It felt like I was a bird flying in the sky. When I saw them spin, I remembered how I always felt thrilled by it. Spinning, slowly gaining speed, it tickles, it makes me smile. I…I couldn't wait to try them. But, it made me realize that, it only put salt on my wound. One memory holds feels that occur with it. I didn't want to feel hurt again. Why was this thing only made me feel that way? I didn't want to. I still wanted to try to do this. But, I just couldn't. In the end, I only circled the entire rink until I felt it's enough.

"You're done?" My mother asked me and I only nodded.

"Are you okay, sweet pea?" I nodded again but this time I smiled to her. "Kai-kun, can I talk to you for a moment?" Eri came from behind Mother. "Of course. What do you want to talk about?" We went back to the lobby room where I exchanged my skates.

"Well, actually, I want to ask you a favor." I raised my head to her. "You see, we're getting a lot of people this time to skate here. And most of them, which are children and teens, they really want to learn how to skate." I could see where this going.

"So, we're opening a training course, but we're having difficulties with the coach. We occasionally have coaches but only for a short time. The constant switching eventually tires us all and it makes the training a little bit inconsistent."

I nodded to her as the sign for her to continue, "We don't want the course to be closed because the trainees are so excited doing it. Well, the point is, will you be their coach? I know it may sound troublesome to you and I understand you may seem reluctant to this, because I know what happened, but you should know that those kids wouldn't make you feel what I think you feel right now about this whole thing. They don't believe the rumor at all."

My eyes grew wide at the statement. My mind just went like how could they believe so much in me. "Most of the trainees there are really passionate about figure skating and they actually also looked up to you. Well, one of the reasons is because I showed them videos of your performances. And it seems they interested in you since I showed them those."

Eri explained to me and every sentence she said kept me getting more surprised. "E-Eri-san, I really appreciate it and…I'm glad that they believed so much in me. But, are you sure about this? I'm still a junior, still inexperienced, and I still need to learn a lot from Mother. And those rumors and news that are spreading around the world are just making my image worse. Is this really a good idea?"

Eri sighed and shook her head. "Did you not hear me? The kids don't believe the rumors or the news about you with drugs. Well, it's because I also told them that they are not true. Because I know you because I know your mother and we talked a lot. And you're being too modest, darling. You went into one international championship and got a gold medal clearly shows that you're 'that' good."

Eri stopped for a moment and then she put her hands on my shoulder. "Your mother told me that you're so in love with figure skating. Right now, you look like you're finding an excuse to not love figure skating anymore. If you really want to hate figure skating, you wouldn't even go to skate like earlier or you wouldn't even come here in the first place. Your passion is not burned out, you're just denying it."

I was confused. Confused of myself. I wondered, what did happen to me. I realized that some of what she said was not completely false. "Wow, Yomotsuki-san, you really are a pushover, aren't you? Guess I'll give this a try." I realized that I want to help them, but not sure about helping myself. I heard Eri laughed and she patted me on my shoulder. "Let's talk about the details, shall we? The sooner we can start, the better."

After crosschecking my schedule and the trainees' schedules, Mother and I went home. " ** _Sweet pea._** " My mother called me. " ** _Are you sure you okay with the trainer job?_** " I turned to her and gave her a confused face.

" ** _Yeah, I'm okay. But why are you sounded reluctant about me doing this? I thought you took part of pushing me into doing this?_** " My mother chuckled in response. " ** _Well, I only told her about you and she told me about this training course, but I really was reluctant about her decision because I don't want you to be hurt again._** "

My mother then sighed. " ** _But knowing her, she did push you hard into making you do this, right?_** " I laughed at her expression. " ** _Your friend is a little bit too much, Mother. But, I'm okay. To be honest, I still want to figure things out. I was also offered to join a swim club at school. I'm interested to join but there were some complications. I'm going to go with the flow and see where it takes me. At least, with that, I won't be completely shutted in._** "

I told her and I felt my hand was held by Mother. She held it tight. " ** _I'm really proud of you, Kai. I always am. You should know that I support you in whatever you do. Your father included._** " I smiled widely at Mother. " ** _Thanks, Mother. And I already missed Father._** " My mother smiled at me. " ** _So do I, sweet pea._** "

I reached home and I went straight to my room catching up on my studies. I had a very rough time studying and I felt that I needed to easily adapt as soon as possible. As I making my notes, my mind was caught up with something, which was the swimming club. In my heart I really want to try for it. But, at the same I didn't feel ready if I to join any competitions. I didn't want to endure the same thing that could happen like in the past. But, if I set that aside and if I remembered the time I raced the members, I could say that I felt the "free" feeling Makoto told me. It's more like that feeling was contagious. I wanted to be free. I needed to let loose and not completely shut in. The moment I realized this, I decided to just grasp any opportunities that came to me. I wanted to start a new. I left the Kai who used to live in the US. Now, I'm living the Kai who lived in Japan.

When my brain finally fried again with all the studying, I went out to get some fresh air. I brought my camera for my little sightseeing. I walked around and found myself at the shrine. It was a peace and quiet place. The serenity inspired me to take a picture. I stood under the shrine gate, but people here called it torii. Then I set my angle and the focus. **Click**. I approached the place where people put their offerings and I started taking photos again. **Click**. I turned around, eyes still looking through the camera's lense.

But then suddenly, I was jumpscared by none than the other, "Kai-chan!" I stumbled back, almost dropping my precious expensive camera. "Whoa!" I screamed.

"Hazuki! Stop doing that!" I scolded him. "If my camera fell and then broke, I will ask you to pay me $6500." Nagisa scratched his chin. He looked a bit confused.

"How much is that in yen?" Nagisa asked and then Rei came from behind him. "About 700000 yen." Nagisa's face turned cold as he found out how expensive my DSLR was.

"T-That's... I'm really sorry, Kai-chan." Then, Haruka and Makoto appeared from behind them.

"Hello, Kai-kun!" Makoto greeted me with his usual smile. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Just sightseeing with my camera. What are you guys doing?" I asked back.

"We're about to go to the mall and have some fun. It's not that far from here." I thought that it could be fun. And, I had something to tell to Makoto, so I decided to join them.

We ended up watching a movie. It's an animation one, but in Japan, they called it anime. It was really fun to watch and it was actually my first time watching them. When I asked that if an anime is the same as a cartoon, they protested it. They said that it's clearly not the same. With anime, you can find many different genres. That caught my interest. I'd watched cartoons and most of them, to me, they were like made for kids. To my surprise, adults were also watching anime. Back at the theater, I found some of them watching. I thought that I should research for these animes. And maybe, I could find something that has my certain interest. After we got out from the theatre, I decided to talk to Makoto, regarding the swimming club.

"Tachibana-senpai!" I called him.

He turned his head to me to ask me what's wrong. "It's about the swim club. I have given it a thought, recently." I sighed as I readied myself.

"I decided to join the swim club. Is that okay with you?" My declaration made the other 3 turned to me. Especially Nagisa, whose face was really hyped.

"T-That… That would be great, Kai-kun!" Makoto told me. "I realized that you've been struggling with something, but what makes you want to join the club?" He asked me.

"Well, it's a long story. But, after I've used my time figuring out things, I decided that I'm going to follow what comes to me. If I saw an opportunity and I can see that I have a potential in it and people also believed me too, then I should take the chance. And that goes for joining this club." I told them and I gave them a bow. "Dozo yoroshiku." I stood straight again and saw their faces again.

"Welcome to the team, Kai-kun." Makoto told me. After that, we celebrated a bit, and I took a photo of the 5 of us. After that, they insisted me to go buy the swimming jammers, like them. I picked one with dark blue markings and grey outlines.

My phone rang and I saw Mother's caller ID. "Hello?" I said. "Kai, sweet pea? Where are you right now?" Mother asked me. "Umm, I'm at the mall nearby. But, I'm just about to head home." I replied.

"Ah, then can I ask you a favor? We forgot something when we went to buy some groceries yesterday. We forgot to pick up your grandma's favorite daifuku, so can you help buying it for us?" Mother explained to me.

"Okay, is there anything else?" I asked again. "Nope, that will be all. Thank you, sweetpea. Be careful on your way home." My mother replied. "Okay, see you, Mother." I hanged my phone.

I made my way to the small shop that sells various Japanese snacks. I asked the store clerk where are the daifukus. He led me and I found that they have many daifukus. I just learned that they looked like mochi. But they sold so many daifukus with different fillings.

I found one with ice cream fillings. " ** _Ooh, yeah, baby, gimme some of dat…_** "

Then, I just realized that I didn't know what was Obaa-chan's favorite. So, I opened my phone again to call Mother what was Obaa-chan's favorite. Mother told me that Obaa-chan liked the strawberry ones. So, I searched for ichigo daifukus. Ichigo is strawberry in Japanese, right? Ew. She had to love strawberries. Like Mother. I searched and found one pack of ichigo daifukus but they were on the higher racks. I tried to reach for it but to my surprise, my hand touched someone's hand that's also reaching for the ichigo daifukus. "Ah, sorry, do you want to get that?" I restrained from picking the pack and then I turned to see the person who wants the ichigo daifukus.

"Kai?" My eyes grew wide realizing who the person was. "Yamazaki-san?"

* * *

 **A/N: I realized that this chapter is kind of short. Hahaha, but no worries. I hope you guys like it. And forgive me if I did some grammatical errors or if it my writing. Any help is appreciated guys! So, please, give me review :D Thank you guys and see you at the next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N : Hello, guys! I'm really sorry that it's been too long since I updated. Something hit me recently and I know this one is not that long, but I'll try to do my best in the future chapters. And I want to say thanks to you guys for the support!**  
_

 _ **I'll let you read for now. Hehe~**_

Disclaimer : I don't own Free!

 **CHAPTER 5**

"Kai?" My eyes grew wide realizing who the person was.

"Yamazaki-san?" Sousuke looked at me a little bit surprised. "Y-You're getting the ichigo daifuku too?" I asked him.

He nodded as his response, looking at me with the usual bored face. I looked at the rack and it was last one. "O-Oh… It's the last one. You should go get it, Yamazaki-san. I will just go find in the other shops." I smiled to him and then I turned around to quickly get out of the store. I didn't know why, but I got so flustered when there's Sousuke around. I thought his presence was a bit intimidating. But it made me question, why was I so open when I made him mac and cheese before? Anyway, I needed to go find another shop that sells daifuku.

After I walked for quite a while and searched two other shops that sell daifuku, I found one small shop and fortunately it sold those ichigo daifukus. I quickly made my way to it and I bought 2 packages of ichigo daifukus. I made my way out of the mall and went straight home. The sun was almost setting and as I passed through the beach, I couldn't help but stop on my step. I prepared my camera and angled it. **Click**. I took few shots afterwards until I was satisfied. I walked again after that until I finally reached my home.

"I'm back!" I said as I walked in. I heard Obaa-chan talking in the living room.

"Obaa-chan, I got you these-" I stopped when I looked that Obaa-chan was sitting with Sousuke and eating the ichigo daifuku. I was surprised. I met Sousuke again and Obaa-chan already had her daifuku. I kind of felt disappointed.

"Sweet pea, you're home?" Mother finally showed up.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I was having a long time finding Obaa-chan's favorite. I don't know why it's sold out on almost every shop that sells daifuku. It took three shops to find one. But, if I stayed at the first shop which was the place I bumped into Yamazaki-san, and to learn he's getting that pack of ichigo daifukus for Obaa-chan, then I would've come home earlier with Yamazaki-san." I put the two packs of the ichigo daifukus on the table that in front of Obaa-chan.

"Well, I'm over it anyways. Just save those, Obaa-chan. In case Mother forgot again to buy you some." I told her and I saw my mother cringed.

"Thank you very much, Kai-kun. Don't you want some of these?" Obaa-chan told me and I almost shuddered at the thought.

"Oh, it's okay, Obaa-chan. Thank you. But I really have to decline." I told her.

"Yes, I forgot to tell you that Kai actually dislike strawberries." Mother continued and Obaa-chan mouthed an "oh".

" ** _No-no_**." I looked at her. "Hate. That much more fitting," Then, I saw Sousuke stifled a lugh. "I'm going back to my room." I looked at all of them until I stopped at Sousuke. I gave him a quick smile while tilting my head a little.

I walked to my room and finally got on my bed. I opened my ice cream daifuku and I felt I was in heaven because it's a vanilla. " ** _Oh my gawd, so gooooodd~_** "

I opened my phone and looked up at my social media's feeds until I stopped at one news. The headlines said, "Lucas Tillman : Taking the Spotlight for Junior Figure Skating." I made a sound of disgust, but then I laughed. " ** _Good for you, Lucas. You finally have shined, when I'm not around anymore._** "

When I was still active with figure skating, he was always behind me. His best was not my best. And now I'm out of the picture, so his best is the best they had. Not even I give a single fuck. I scrolled back down until I was interrupted with a knock. "Who is it?" I asked out loud.

"Sousuke."

I heard a brief response and I was a bit surprised. Why would he come to my room? I came to the door and opened the door slightly. I looked up to see Sousuke and seriously I still amazed by this man height.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked him.

"Hey. C-can I come in?" Sousuke asked me.

"Umm, why?" It was the right thing for me to become suspicious.

"I want to tell you something, but I'm not comfortable with me saying it just over here." I looked at him. And after few thoughts, "Okay." I opened the door to let him in.

I closed the door and stood with my back against the door. "You can sit anywhere but not the desk." I told him.

He took a seat on the edge of my bed and I took a seat on the chair near my study desk so we can sit across each other. "So, what do you want to talk about, Yamazaki-san?"

I looked at him and he was a little bit nervous looking back at me. "I want to say sorry."

I raised my eyebrow. "For…?" I asked.

"The ichigo daifuku thing." I laughed at his answer.

"You seriously think I was pissed at you?" I told him and he just shrugged. "I told you that that I am not. It's just…silly of me. So, I don't really care." I explained to him.

"It was partly my fault." Sousuke quickly said.

"Why?" I told him in confusion.

"If I told you back at the store that I bought it for your grandma, then you wouldn't go out the trouble to search the other stores." He replied.

"Well, if you put it like that, then it's partly your fault. But as I said, I don't care about it. At least Obaa-chan is happy." Sousuke just nodded at my response.

"So, that's it? That's what you want to talk about?" I asked him when I felt the awkward silence was almost coming.

"N-no. The reason why I wanted to check up on you if you're mad at me or not, because I want to ask you to hang out with me, next weekend." His response surprised me. "

Why?" I asked him again.

"Stop saying 'why' goddamnit, do you want to go or not?" His tone was really harsh and I was taken a back. Realizing that I looked uncomfortable, Sousuke facepalmed himself. "I-I'm sorry. I just lost a bet to a friend. And he made me to do this." Sousuke replied.

"Well, I'm not going to ask the reason to you. But, sure. I'll come." I told him carefully.

"Great. Thanks." And all of the sudden we heard a thunder, signalling that it was going to rain.

"Well, shit." I heard Sousuke cursed. I looked at Sousuke and he's wearing thin clothes that would surely not protect him from the rain. I went to my closet and searched for my raincoat. I tapped at Sousuke's shoulder but he flinched so suddenly and put his hand on his shoulder as if he was covering it. His reaction reminded me at the night we ate the mac and cheese.

"Sorry. But, here. You can use this raincoat," I told him, "It's really windy, so an umbrella won't exactly help you get back to your dorm." I gave him the raincoat and he took it.

"Thanks, Kai." He replied and I saw his smile again. Which I found so warm and gentle, regardless of his harsh and aloof look.

"Right. The sooner you get back to your dorm the better." Sousuke and I exited my room and we met with Mother and Obaa-chan. Sousuke said goodbye to them and I waved at him.

"Sweet pea, is he wearing your coat?" Mother asked me.

"Yeah, he is." I told her.

"But, you never lend it to any-" I quickly stopped my mother from talking.

"Shush, Mother. I know." I walked back to my room with a slight grin.

The next day, at lunch I met Makoto. And he told me that we had a joined practice after school. He didn't explain much about it, so I just waited until it was the time. After school, I walked with Nagisa and Rei to find Haru and Makoto. When we met up, I decided to talk more about the joined practice.

"So, where are we going for this joined practice?" I asked first.

"The Samezuka Academy." The moment I heard that I was almost stopped on my track because I was surprised. First, it's because we're going to visit Sousuke's school. And then, to bigger my chance to find him, I remembered that he was a member of the swimming club there.

"O-Oh…" I replied shortly, trying to hide my surprise and acknowledgement of someone I knew from there. "Are they good swimmers?" I asked but I already knew the answer.

"Yeah, they're actually really great. But, don't worry Kai-kun. You'll catch up quick with them with your skills right now." Makoto told me.

"Yeah, sure." I trailed off and it made Makoto gave me a concerning look.

"Are you okay, Kai?" When he asked me, I looked up to him immediately.

"Y-Yeah, I'm okay." I told him.

We walked few steps and Makoto started to talk again. "Are you still unsure about this?" I shrugged at the question. "I don't know, senpai. I'm still figuring things out. To be honest, my family and I came here to get me off from something. If swimming is the right thing to help me from that, then I will stay. I'm not going to be serious about this and join competitions and aiming for nationals. I only joined because you said that you guys swim for fun." I told him.

"I understand that, Kai-kun. We won't push you any harder. We know we pushed you enough to make you join us." Makoto told me.

"Thanks, senpai. And I'm sorry for being down all of the sudden. I just have so many thoughts to mull over and sometimes I like to ovethinking things." I said.

"It's okay. You can always tell me or the others if you have a problem. We'll listen to you when you're ready to talk things out."

I smiled at Makoto widely. "Thanks, senpai. Really. No wonder you're our team captain. The rest of the team adored you and you're also reliable. But don't forget you have my back too." I told him.

"That's very nice to hear. Thank you, Kai-kun." Makoto replied me with his gentle smile that he always does.

We arrived at Samezuka Academy and joined them in the swimming pool. There were a lot of guys there. We met with their team captain, Rin Matsuoka, who had already in swimsuit. He's the one with a semi long maroon hair and when he smiles, his pointy teeth show. And he's pretty close to Haru, from the look of how they interact to each other.

"So, who's the new guy?" Rin asked.

I gave him a small bow and introduced myself. "Hello, I'm the newest member, Kai Roberts. It's nice to meet you." Rin inspected me up and down.

"You look foreign, though." I cringed.

"Well, I just moved from the US. If that what you are asking." I told him.

"Is that so? I spent some time in foreign country too. Australia, to be exact. I'm sure we can get along." He said while he's grinning showing his pointy teeth again.

"Cool." I calmly said.

And then all of the sudden, Nagisa pulled my hand and dragged me away from them. "C'mon, Kai-chan, we should get changed!" Nagisa said.

"Alright, I'm coming with you." I followed Nagisa to the changing room. I was a bit embarrassed wearing the jammers, because it was so tight. Not like my figure skating outfit.

"Waaww, Kai-chan! I don't know that you have a really nice ass." Oh God, this is what I'd been afraid for.

"Is that a compliment or what?" I told him.

"It's a compliment of course. And you look good in that jammers, Kai-chan! C'mon, let's go meet the others." Nagisa replied.

After everyone was ready for swimming practice, Rin came to me. "So, Kai. What is your style?" He asked me.

"Hmm… I don't know. They are all the same to me." Rin looked at me with one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah. He actually can do all of the four styles perfectly." Makoto came in.

"When he first came to our club, we had a race. Him against every each of us."

Rin now turned to Makoto. "Really? Then, how it went?" Makoto smiled widely at the question.

"He beat every one of us."

Then, Rin's face turned from expectant to surprised. "You didn't." He said.

"Yes, he did." Makoto told him.

"He even beat Haru by miliseconds." Rin turned to me again.

"In freestyle?" He asked.

"Yup." Makoto replied.

"I was probably lucky anyway. Probably you guys were going easy on me back then." I said.

"You're too modest, Kai-kun." I just shrugged at his statement and went to swim with Nagisa and Rei. I jumped into the water and I already felt the cold.

" ** _Gosh, this is effing cold_** **.** " I told myself. After I make some rounds with Nagisa and Rei, I got out from the swimming pool and finally found…

"You…" The person who made me nervous to meet.

"Heeeyy…" I awkwardly greeted him.

"You are their new recruit?" He asked me.

"Yeah. I'm with Iwatobi Swimming Club now." I told him.

"So, you were not kidding at all?" He asked and it made me confused.

"What?" Sousuke scratched the back of his head.

"When we had our mac and cheese. You told me about the swimming club." He said and I couldn't believe myself at the fact that he didn't believe me.

"Wow. You really underestimated me, huh? But you know, I can't blame you because I'm _nothing_ like you guys." I walked away from him and made my way towards my friends.

 **3** **rd** **PERSON POV**

"Damn. You even made the new guy pissed." Rin came from behind Sousuke and watched Kai.

"Did you see how he swims?" Sousuke asked.

"Yeah. And I heard he's really good. Do you know the fact that he beat all of his teammates with their specialty?" Rin asked, "Makoto told me and I even asked Haru. Kai defeated them fair and square."

Sousuke closed his eyes and he couldn't believe himself that he took Kai for a joke. When he was with Kai that night when they ate mac and cheese, he thought that he was just kidding. He didn't believe him at all. He sighed afterwards and turned again to watch Kai. Guilt washed over him.

"Hey, do you actually know that guy?" Rin finally asked.

"Yeah. He's Suzumiya Obaa-chan's grandson." Rin mouthed an "O".

"That makes him Sayaka-san's son then." Sousuke nodded.

After a few moments, something finally hit on Rin. "Wait," Rin spoke. "No way. Then, he's Kenneth Roberts's son?!" Rin asked shockingly.

"Now, you know why he is a really good swimmer." Sousuke told him.

"Unbelievable," Rin now turned to look at Kai in awe. "Their team is getting more and more formidable. I like it."

 **Kai's POV**

I caught up with Nagisa, Rei, and Haru. "Hey, you guys." I greeted them.

"Kai-chan! I guess you've met Sou-chan." Nagisa told me.

"Sou-chan? You mean Yamazaki-san?" I told him.

"Yeah, him!" Nagisa exclaimed.

"Do you already know him before today?" He asked. "Y-Yeah. He actually visits my grandmother a lot. And I happened to meet him on my first day in Japan." I explained.

"Did he do anything bad to you?" Haru asked me all of the sudden.

"No… Not in particular. I mean he always looked angry and he likes to stare." I told him.

"Sou-chan can get really scary. But he's a really good swimmer." Nagisa told me.

"Is that so?"

Then, Haru took a step forward to me. "If he did anything bad to you, just tell me. You should be careful around him." Haru told me.

"I-I think I will be fine around him, senpai. Don't worry," I gave him a reassuring smile and then he returned to the pool. "I'm guessing Yamazaki-san and Nanase-senpai are not on good terms." I spoke to myself.

 _ **A/N : I'm going to pause it there, so I hope you like it so far :) And I'm sorry for any mistakes or errors. You notice that I kind of changed my writing style. Well, because someone just told me about it. Please leave a review, that will be so helpful for me to continue making this story. See ya at the next chapter guys!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N :Hello, guys! Oh my Lord, I'm so sorry for not updating a really while. Last time I updated this story was before I started my 3rd semester. And now, I updated this after I finished the 3rd semester! I'm really sorry, but actually my college life has been really stressful for me, I didn't have time to do other things like this in my short free time I got. So, now that I'm on holiday. I managed to finally write some! Yipee! And this chapter is actually longer, so I'm really surprised. And thank you so much, guys, for the support, reviews, faves, follows, or even reading this. I truly appreciate it. Ha, you probably won't read this author note, so let's just jump to the story. Happy reading!_

 _Btw, I updated Kai's appearance. So, check my profile's avatar to look how's Kai appearance! Hehehe~_

Disclaimer: I don't own Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club

* * *

CHAPTER 6

I went back to the changing room after practice. I then left with Nagisa and Rei, but stopped when Sousuke was standing on my way. "Kai." I looked up at him, giving him a questioning look.

"Can I talk to you for a bit?" I thought that he's really taken a liking to talk to me in private.

"Sure."

I turned and looked at Nagisa and Rei. "You guys can go first. You don't need to wait for me." I told them.

"Are you sure?" Rei asked me.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Okay, then. See ya, Kai-chan, Sou-chan!" I saw Sousuke got a little bit irritated with Nagisa called him Sou-chan. It was funny but I held my laugh.

"So? What do you want to talk about?" I finally asked Sousuke.

"I'm sorry."

I was afraid to say why, but… "Why?" I kept asking anyway.

"If I were rude to you back then at practice. And I made you mad." He said and it made me crunched the bridge of my nose.

"Yamazaki-san, I-" Sousuke cut me in. "Stop with the last name. Just call me Sousuke." He told me.

"Okay, Sousuke-san. I was not mad and still am not. Like yesterday, I was a little bit sarcastic. But, if you feel bad about it and want to apologize, then you're forgiven." I could see that Sousuke loosen up his tension for a little bit.

"But, you know, I was taken aback when you actually didn't believe me. Does this mean that you have not been believing me at all?" I told him and then he looked surprised.

"N-No! Of course not – I mean – I believe you, but… I was-" Sousuke stuttered and he was having a difficulty to find the correct words. I stiffled a laugh but I couldn't hold it anymore, so I let it out loud.

"Gosh, it's so fun messing with you!" I said that and Sousuke's face turned into a pissed one.

"Kai, you little…" He growled.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please don't attack me!" I put my both hands to defend me from him.

"No, I won't attack you." He said and I let out a huge sigh.

"Well, Sousuke-san, it's okay that you didn't believe me at first. I'm not really convincing at all for a great swimmer like you guys." I told him.

"Your father taught you, right?" Sousuke asked me.

"Yeah. But did you remember what I said before? This is never my passion. It doesn't matter how skilled you are, even if you're trained like for the Olympics. Passion can take you further than skills alone." I said.

"So, what's your passion, then?" The question caught me by surprise. I couldn't believe that this conversation can lead to that particular topic.

"Something else." I told him quickly. There was a short silence until Sousuke talked about another topic.

"Hey, can we exchange phone numbers?" He asked.

"Sure." I put out my phone from my pocket.

"It's for reminding you about our hang out this weekend." He told me. But, my random thoughts said that he was about to make a move on me. But, to who am I kidding?

"Ah, I see. Anyway, who is your friend that you lost bet to?" I asked.

"Rin."

I looked at him. "Is that so? So, you two are close?" I asked him again.

"Pretty much." After I put his number on my phone, I gave him a quick text.

 _Hello, Sou-chan :3_

"I just texted you." I told him.

"Okay. Thanks, Kai. I will text you what time and where we will hang out." He said.

"Sure thing." I replied and then said goodbye to him.

"Hey, you're really going to come, right?" I walked to the door and then turned my head to him.

"That's for you to believe me or not, Sousuke-san." I told him while giving me a sneaky grin and then I waved at him. I just couldn't stop to tease him a bit.

It was Friday and it was the third day of coaching the children to ice skate. I was impressed to be honest. They were only 5, but they were really into this and they had such high hopes for them in this sport. But somehow, it made me feel bitter, because it can take anything to make your hopes crushed. Even though I was only banned for 2 years, it felt to me that I was banned forever. Looking at the other side, my career as a figure skater did not completely over with that ban. I could still compete after the ban. But, I was hurt. Was that the thing that Eri-san had told me? The reason for me to hate figure skating while I still have hope? I put those thoughts aside and decided to help those kids because they needed me.

"Hey, kiddos!" I greeted them.

"Nii-san!" A little guy with a spiky brown hair named Tetsuya called me.

"I can't wait for the next lesson! What will you teach us today?" The black haired girl named Mai, who was standing next to Tetsuya, asked me.

They learned really fast, they pretty much had already learned the basic on how to move around the rink, so what they needed at that point was to learn how to do the little difficult moves. "I think you've learned enough for this week. So, I want to review what we have learned from the past few days. Just remember what you've learned and remember your notes. I will be watching to see if any of you guys still need improvement." Even though they were eager to learn more new things, I told them from the start that we're going to take things slowly and improve our skills one at a time.

The kids started to skate around the rink and I played a classical music to help them with the rhythm of their moves. I started to pinpoint any of their mistakes with their moves and turns. Even they were some who were trying to do spins, but still they were not perfect. After an hour of my examinations, I entered the rink to stop them and gathered them. I taught them again to do the turns because it was indeed crucial. After several minutes of demonstration, I let them be to train again. When I looked at them, I couldn't help but to feel washed with nostalgia of figure skating myself. I remembered when I was still 6 and watched Mother's tapes and they got me inspired to do this sport. And years of training and dedication were put because I wanted to be as great as Mother. I put both of my elbows on the railing and put my chin on my arms, thinking what if I was not banned? What if I didn't even ask for that paracetamol? I sighed.

" ** _What am I doing? This is not the end of the world for you, Kai. You still have hope. But, if I return, will it still be the same way?_** " I sighed again. I looked at my watch and I realized that another hour had passed. I stopped them to conclude their practice and I gathered them outside of the rink.

"You guys did great work today. I know you want to learn new things today, but I really want to take one step at a time in this. It might take a long time, but all of your hard work will be worth it. I can promise you that." After I gave them few notes of what they should improve, I concluded the practice and went to see them until the front doors.

"Thank you, Nii-san!" Tetsuya's friend, Misaki, said.

"See you next week!" Tetsuya continued and I waved at them. I turned around to go to the locker rooms, but stopped in a way.

"Good work today, Kai-kun." The manager of the place told me.

"Ah, thank you, Eri-san. The practice went smoothly as always." I reported to her.

"Right. Oh yeah, before I forgot." Eri took something from her pocket.

"Here's your payment." Eri gave me the brown envelope. "I said I'll give you the payment per week, right? That will be nice for your pocket money." Eri told me.

"Thank you very much, Eri-san." I smiled back at her.

"Say, Kai, what do you think now?" I looked at her with the questioning look. "What I told you the first time you came here."

It rang at me. The question that I wasn't able to answer at the time. "Those kids have been giving me some thoughts. But, I don't know." I told her.

"It's okay. Maybe you need some more time to mull it over." She said. Then, I saw her taking her jacket. "I'll head out first, okay? Just don't forget to lock everything." I nodded at her and say goodbye. After that, I turned back to the locker room.

 **45 minutes before the ice skating practice was over… (3** **rd** **person POV)**

Sousuke just finished everything he had to do in the school and decided to visit the Suzumiya's residence. He was about to return Kai's raincoat at the same time. After he parted with Rin, he made his way to the residence. After few minutes of travelling with train and walking, he finally reached the Suzumiya house. Sousuke knocked on the door. Sayaka opened the door soon after.

"Ah, Sousuke-kun? Come on in." Sousuke nodded and smiled at her and then got in. When he entered and was about to take off his shoes, he recognized that Kai's shoes were not there.

"Excuse me, Sayaka-san, but is Kai here?" Sousuke asked.

"Oh, not yet. He's coaching some kids to figure skate. But he should be home soon, I think." Sousuke never heard about Kai and figure skate. But, he knew that his mother was a professional figure skater. He then remembered about Kai's "other passion." He thought that maybe, figure skating was it.

"Oh, I see. Where does he coach them?" Sayaka then gave him the place name and Sousuke looked up to it at his phone. He wanted to go to see him, but it would make him being questioned which was going to be a bother.

"Ah, Sayaka-san, I knew I forgot something but I just remembered I want to look up the local stores nearby to buy something. I'm going to head there before it closes. Oh, and please give this to Kai. I wanted to say my thanks to him for lending me this the other day" Sousuke told her.

"Oh, alright. I'll tell him when he got home. Just be careful on your way there." Sousuke nodded at her.

"Do you want me to get something for you?" Sousuke asked and Sayaka shooked her head.

"No, it's okay, Sousuke-kun. We're fine." Sousuke waved at her and quickly ran to the ice skate centre near Iwatobi.

Sousuke finally arrived and he noticed a lady outside of the place and was about to leave with her motorcycle. She looked at him as he approached the building closer. "Excuse me." The lady spoke and it caught Sousuke's attention.

"Yes?" Sousuke replied.

"Are you going to go in there?" She asked.

"Yes." Sousuke replied again.

"I'm sorry, but we're actually closing up for the day. We're open tomorrow from 9 in the morning." He looked at the door but it was still opened.

"Excuse me, but do you know Kai Roberts? I heard he's coaching kids to figure skate?" Sousuke asked.

"Oh, Kai-kun? Are you his friend?" She asked back.

"Y-Yeah. I was about to see him, but-" The lady cut in. "He's still inside, if you want to know." Sousuke's face lit up a little bit.

"I see. Thank you, ma'am." Sousuke bowed and then he headed in. Once he entered the lobby, he faintly heard soft piano sounds playing. He followed the sounds until it took him to the ice rink. And there, he saw the man he was looking for, standing in the middle of the rink.

 **Kai's POV**

" ** _Okay, I just want to find out. I'm just going to try. Just go…with the flow… And see for yourself._** " The soft piano music started and I began to move by its melody. I didn't know why I picked that music, but it just came in my mind. The music was dreamy but there's also a little bit of sadness in it. I skated around the rink and I started to do a double toe loop. When I landed successfully I continued to skate around the rink and decided to do a combination of sit spins. I realized that I had been doing the less difficult tricks and decided to do the more difficult ones. As I progressed around the rink and moved with music's melody, I prepare myself to do a combination of jumps. And then, I performed my first jump that was a triple salchow and then followed with double toe loop. But, I didn't landed perfectly. I did not fall but I felt that I just faltered a bit at my landing. This made me notice that there's something wrong in me. Despite knowing that, I wanted to prove myself wrong. How could I fail at doing such simple moves? Feeling stressed and moved by the music's suspense feeling, I sped up and prepared to do the extreme. I was about to do another jump, the quadruple Salchow. I prepared myself until it was the correct moment of the music to do the jump. And, then I launched myself and performed the quadruple Salchow but my landing was painful. I fell and hit myself on the cold ice. My hands felt poignant and when I looked at them, especially my palms, there was blood coming out of it. I stopped for a moment, letting the music to keep playing. " ** _I just made a fool of myself_**." I laughed softly and then I noticed a small tear dropped from my left eye. I shook my head and stood up to get out of the rink. But, I stopped when I learned that someone was watching me when I thought that I was alone.

 **3** **rd** **person POV**

"What are you doing here?" Kai looked up at him. "Have you been watching me?" Kai continued to ask him.

"You're hurt." Sousuke finally told him. Sousuke sensed anger coming out from Kai. "Get out of my way."

Kai walked past him but immediately Sousuke caught his wrist and Kai quickly tried to get off from it. "Is this what your passion is?"

Kai then gave up on resisting and let his head sink. "Let go, Sousuke." Kai told him off with a soft voice and then he turned his head to see Sousuke. Sousuke surprised to see Kai looked in pain. Afraid the he might hurt his wrist, Sousuke finally let go. "I'll… I'll tell you everything. Just wait somewhere else while I go change."

Sousuke waited outside where there was a wooden bench and after a while, Kai came out from the building then locked the doors. Sousuke looked at him and he saw him motioned to come along. Their walk was nothing but silence. Kai wasn't ready to tell him at the moment and Sousuke was afraid to ask him, afraid that he could hurt him more. They finally arrived at the beach and Kai asked Sousuke to come along with him and they sat on the sands. When they sat, Kai turned out his phone and opened the search engine and typed, "Kai Roberts" and "Junior Figure Skating". He pressed enter and then he gave his phone to Sousuke.

"Read any of those news or articles that are posted there. And tell me what you think." Kai told him. Sousuke looked on Kai's phone's screen and the first thing that came out from the search was a post with the headline, " ** _Kai Roberts: Denounced as a Defrauder_** ** _on_ _the Junior Figure Skating_** " Even though the title was in English, Sousuke understood what the title means. He opened the page and saw an article showing that Kai was one of the famous junior figure skater, but turned out that he cheated using a drug to enhance his performance. He scrolled down and saw the comments but they are full sarcastic remarks and bashes to Kai. Sousuke looked up to another posts and it just full of people saying that they are deceived or he's not a great example for juniors even though he always won a medal in every championship he had joined. Only a few commented to the media that it was a lie but the proof that Kai cheated was quite strong. Sousuke turned his gaze from the phone screen to Kai who was hugging his knees and put his chin on them.

"You saw enough?" Kai asked him.

"What happened, Kai? Is this even true?" Sousuke asked. After a few moments of silence, Kai told him. "No. I was not on drugs. Never. I don't know who reported me and even fabricated a convincing proof." Kai turned silent again and Sousuke just watched him with worry in his eyes.

"I was not using that performance enhancing drugs. But someone, who just happened to be in the hallway of the changing rooms, just snapped a shot of me taking one bottle of paracetamol, without my notice. And then, when I was called to explain the picture, they accused me first that I was taking that performance enhancing drugs. I denied them but they didn't believe me in the end. I couldn't give them a solid defence to counter it. So, because of it, I am banned from figure skating for 2 years." Kai sighed and then continued.

"But, that's not the worst part. The news was spreading like a wild fire. Immediately, people changed from praising me to despise me. At my previous high school, people wanted to hang out with me, but with the news they suddenly keeping me away within an arm reach. I was even bullied, but I didn't want to cause any problem so I just let them be. I could always find myself one day my face was bruised. My best friend even left me. She's with the student council and they told her to stay away from me because it will not give a good image to be friends with a bad seed. In the end, I spent 1 year of high school alone by myself. Not literally alone, only one person that wanted to come to me, which was my homeroom teacher. He was nice and he didn't think that I used drugs at all and I know he still thinks so. Sometimes, he would always find me in bathroom stalls and comfort me. But, I knew that I couldn't always rely to him. And then, knowing that I can't live a healthy life there, he suggested that I should transfer. At the same time, I learned that my father and my mother decided to take me to Japan. To them, it's not even healthy for me to live in the US anymore. So, here I am." Kai finally turned to Sousuke and he only smiled wryly.

"I'm really sorry, Kai. I… didn't know you've been through that much." Sousuke finally told Kai.

"It's okay. This is nothing against what happened to Mother. She was threatened to leave figure skating forever with a single blackmail. But, I still can come back." Kai told him.

"But, are you going to come back?" That's the question of the day. Kai didn't know what to answer. But, Kai only shook his head.

"I'm not so sure. That year had been so traumatizing for me. I can't even decide what I should do after my ban." Kai told him. And then, he was surprised that Sousuke suddenly put a hand on Kai's back and comforting him.

"I think you should not give up. I think that you're being recognized in figure skating means that you've been trying and struggling really hard to reach there. It makes me believe that this is truly your passion and you can't give up on that. There must be people who still support you to keep going." Kai looked up at him wide eyed and saw Sousuke's warm eyes. Kai could feel his own eyes are getting watery.

"You will regret yourself if you gave up, Kai." Sousuke told him.

"I agreed to go to Japan because I want to start a new life, Sousuke-san." Then, he heard Kai sniffed. "I can't keep hurting myself." Kai then looked up to Sousuke and Sousuke saw that Kai was already in tears. "Not with figure skating. It will only make me remember the hate and the pain."

Sousuke then pulled him into a hug and Kai buried himself in his chest. "I know. But, if you come back and proved them wrong that you did not cheat, I'm sure it will be a different thing rather than hate and hurt." Sousuke told him. They stayed like that for a while until Kai let go.

"I'm sorry. I'm being too much of a bother." Kai said. "And I'm sorry for ruining your shirt." Kai pointed at the cry stain at Sousuke's shirt. "It's okay." Sousuke gave Kai a smile that both comforting and warm. It was kind of new to Kai since he always saw Sousuke frowning or just wearing a flat face when he saw him. But this one, somehow made Kai feel fuzzy inside and he felt himself blushing so he looked away.

"Promise me, Kai." Kai then looked at Sousuke again. "Don't give up on this." Sousuke told him.

"I'll…try." Kai replied and Sousuke smiled at him.

"Thanks, Sousuke-san. Then promise me also to not give up on swimming too." But that single sentence somehow made Sousuke hurt a bit. "Y-Yeah. I will."

They finally got up and Kai sighed loudly. "It's been a very while since I had my breakdown. And I don't usually broke down in front of any people, so you're here witnessing me break down, means that you're something special." Kai smiled at Sousuke and somehow Sousuke was taken aback with Kai's expression and made himself blushed. But fortunately for Sousuke, his blushing face was not that noticeable because of the sunset.

"So, thank you again. I feel much better now. Just keep this secret from anyone, okay?" Sousuke only made a sound of confirmation and nodded his head. Kai only chuckled at that.

"Right, I'll see you later, Sousuke-san." Kai gave him one last smile before turning around and walking home. Sousuke waved goodbye at him and then watching him until Kai disappeared from his view.

* * *

It was finally the weekend and Sousuke and Rin were waiting at the mall.

"So, who's the person you invited to come with us, Sousuke?" Rin asked him.

"You'll see." Sousuke replied but he was a bit panicked because Kai had showed up yet and he was late.

"Were you lying to me that you-" Rin stopped when someone greeted them. "Hey, guys! Sorry, I'm late!" Kai finally arrived and greeted them while huffing. He was wearing a dark blue hoodie, black jeans, and dark blue sneakers.

"Kai?" Rin asked confusedly.

"Hello, Matsuoka-san." Kai turned to smile at him.

"Kai is your friend?" Rin asked to Sousuke with disbelief.

"Hey, what do you mean by that? Of course I'm his friend!" Kai told Rin.

Rin laughed nervously at Kai. "Sorry about that. And it's okay to call me Rin." Rin grinned at Kai, showing his pointy teeth a bit.

"Let's go, we should go buy the tickets for the movie." They walked together to the cinema and stopped while looking at what were showing in the cinema.

"So, what are we going to watch?" Kai asked. Rin pointed at the horror movie poster with college students on there. "Oh lord." Kai said.

"What, are you scared?" Rin teased.

"No, it's not that. I just hope that this movie it's not dumb. You know, when the characters choices are not completely obvious to lead them to their deaths." Kai replied.

"Yeah, but this one is a bit of gory." At that statement, Kai's face lightened up.

"Did you say gore?" Rin nodded. " ** _Sweet!_** I'm gonna go buy some popcorns and drinks." After Kai walked away, Rin then turned to Sousuke.

"You should get our tickets." Sousuke then scowled at Rin.

"Why do I have to pay for your tickets?" Rin chuckled. "You lost the bet, loser."

"Fine." Sousuke replied with his eyes rolled.

When Sousuke was about to reach the ticket booth, he saw that Kai was on the line. Sousuke then approached him. "Hey." Sousuke called and it made Kai turned to look at him.

"Oh, Sousuke-san. Why are you here?" Kai asked him. When Sousuke was about to reply him, both Kai and Sousuke were already in the front line and Kai asked the attendant for three tickets for the horror movie.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Sousuke asked in confusion.

"Buying tickets for the three of us." Kai accepted and then paid the tickets. After that, he walked to the popcorn and beverages booth. And he ordered three buckets of popcorn and three sodas.

"Okay, Kai, I didn't ask you to treat both me and Rin." Sousuke told him.

"You didn't." Kai replied shortly and then he gave Sousuke the three large sodas. "They are my thanks for inviting me to hang out with you guys." Sousuke looked at Kai confusedly.

"But, you don't have to." Sousuke replied.

"I know. But I just that kind of person who feels bad a lot." Kai took the three buckets of popcorn and paid them to the attendant. "C'mon, let's meet Rin." Kai and Sousuke walked back to where Rin was waiting for them.

"Hey, you guys took your time." Rin smirked to Sousuke and Sousuke replied with a squinted glare.

"Sorry for the wait." Kai replied. And then he handed Rin his ticket, his popcorn, and his drinks.

"Wait, you bought all of these?" Rin asked.

"Yup. See it as my thanks for inviting me." Kai replied.

"I thought I asked you to buy the tickets, Sousuke." Rin looked at Sousuke but then he shrugged.

"Well, either way is fine by me." Rin gave a sly grin and Kai didn't know what was that for but in the other side, Sousuke knew what Rin had been playing. Then, an announcer interrupted their conversation when their movie was about to begin.

"Alright, let's go inside!" Kai cheered.

About more than an hour later, they walked out of the cinema, Sousuke looked bored as usual while Rin and Kai were talking about the movie. "Kai, you're seriously a creep." Rin told him.

"Why?" Kai replied.

"You 'laughed' at the scene where the killer stabbed that girl's eye and then pulling it out." Rin told him with a terrified look.

"Oh come on, you should know that the eye was artificial. The eye didn't even look real to me and the blood was kind of weird." Kai replied.

"Are you serious?" Rin cringed and then turned to Sousuke who was still silent. "How about you, Sousuke? You didn't react much to the movie."

"It was okay. I turned my head away when things got really disgusting." Sousuke replied.

"Phew. See, Kai, people disgusted by it. But, you're the only one in the room who found it entertaining." Kai just shrugged.

"I know I'm weird, Rin-san. Don't need to point it out further." Kai walked away and left Rin somehow speechless.

"And what did you just do?" Sousuke now turned to Rin.

"Wait, is he…mad at me?" Rin looked surprised.

"I don't know and we should check him out. He's hard to figure out sometimes." Sousuke walked to Kai who was just finished his drink and threw it into the trash bin.

"Hey, you okay?" Sousuke asked Kai who was on the phone and Rin came behind him.

"I'm…fine? What's wrong?" Kai asked back.

"This guy right here thinks that he pissed you off." Kai then gave a confused look to Rin.

"I'm not mad, Rin-san. I don't know why would you think like that, but we were having fun and still are." Kai replied.

"Right, just forget it. Now, what should we do next?" Rin asked.

"Wait a moment, guys. **_Father, why did you call me? I was inside a movie theatre so I had to turn my phone silent._** "

" ** _Why did I just hear from your mom that you're in the swimming club?!_** " His voice was too loud and way too excited, it made Kai needed to put his phone away for a bit.

"I'm sorry, guys, my father is kind of crazy when he's too excited." Kai apologized to both Sousuke and Rin while the both of them looked a bit shocked and startled, especially Rin.

" ** _Sheesh, Father, will you stop screaming so loudly? I'm with my friends right now and you pretty much just embarrassing me_** **.** " Kai sighed.

" ** _I'm sorry, Kai. But when I asked your mother about how have you been doing and he told me about you joined your school swimming club, I just got really excited and I had to call you immediately. Ah~ at least your training did not go to waste, right?_** "

" ** _Of course not, seriously. I'll tell you the whole story when I'm back at home, okay? My friends are waiting for me and they're actually seniors, so I don't want to be rude_**."

" ** _Ah, right. Sorry to bother you. I need to apologize to them also. I hope they don't mind me intruding haha._** "

Kai then turned to Sousuke and Rin, "Guys, my father is apologizing for intruding our fun time. I hope you're okay with it."

"O-Of c-course it's okay! P-Please tell him don't apologize." Rin replied.

"Ha, fanboy." Sousuke curtly replied and he received a smack from Rin. Kai raised an eyebrow then smiled. He turned back to his phone again.

" ** _It's okay, Father. And by the way, one of my friends here is actually one of your fan._** " Kai grinned at Rin and it made Rin all flustered.

" ** _A fan? Hahaha can't believe I still have fans. I thought my times are over. I'm just an old man now._** "

" ** _Geez, you're still a famous Olympic swimmer. Don't sell yourself short, Father._** "

" ** _Alright, alright. What are their names?_** "

" ** _Hm? Oh, they are Sousuke Yamazaki and Rin Matsuoka. They both are from a different school from me. But, they are also in their school's swimming club and my school's swimming club often has joint practice with them. So, we get to know each other from that._** "

" ** _I see. Well, can I speak to them for a little bit?_** "

" ** _Okay, wait_**." Kai turned to Sousuke and Rin, "Guys, I'm sorry, this might be sudden and random, but my father wants to speak with both of you." At that statement, Rin suddenly tensed up. But then, two of them finally nodded.

"It will be just a little bit. And he can speak and understand Japanese, so don't even bother to speak English." Kai turned on the loudspeaker. "Father, you can talk to them now."

"Alright, good afternoon, Yamazaki-kun, Matsuoka-kun. I'm sorry for interrupting your time hanging out with my son." Kenneth spoke in a slight weird Japanese accent.

"Ah, it's alright, Roberts-san. It's very nice to be able to speak with you." Rin replied. "Likewise." Sousuke added.

"W-Well, I just want to keep it short. Thank you for giving your time to hang out with my son. I know he won't like for me saying this, but he's having a bit trouble right now and having friends is probably the best thing to keep him stronger. So, I'm really glad that my son making new friends there. I can't thank you enough for this, honest. Maybe, if the time comes for me to move to Japan, I could give some coaching and help for you guys in terms of swimming? I-It's not much probably, but I hope that's okay." Kenneth chuckled for a little bit and then continued speaking, "Yeah. I think that's what I want to talk about. I have to finish some projects right now, so I'm going to hang up now. Thank you again, Yamazaki-kun, Matsuoka-kun. **_And Kai?_** "

" ** _Hm?_** " Kai replied. " ** _Just wait a little bit more, okay. I'm almost there. I missed your mother and my little sweetpea so much._** " Kai could feel that he's almost tearing up because he really missed his father too. But at the same time he also embarrassed of what his father said in front of Rin and Sousuke.

" ** _Y-Yeah. J-Just get back to work already! And stay healthy!_** " Kai could hear his father laughing.

" ** _Aye aye, sir. Okay, I'm hanging up._** " Kai hung up and saw his father name and picture on the phone. And then, he gave him a single message. " _I missed you too, Father. Talk to you later._ "

After he sent it, Kai looked up to Rin and Sousuke who held a sympathetic gaze at him. "If you have any problem, don't hesitate to ask my or Sousuke's help, okay?" Rin ruffled Kai's hair and Sousuke gave him the same smile like the time they were having a heartful conversation at the beach.

"Thanks Rin-san, Sousuke-san. My father didn't have to tell that little details." Kai said. "So, wanna hit the arcade?" Kai asked. Rin nodded enthusiastically while Sousuke just shrugged and followed them from behind.

After wasting their time and energy spending tickets on many different arcades, they finally left the mall. "That was fun. Thank you for inviting me, guys." Kai told the two of them.

"No problem. We should hang out again sometime." Then, Rin elbowed Sousuke. "You had fun too, right Sousuke?" Sousuke turned his head away like he was embarrassed, but managed to say a grunted yes. Kai smiled at Sousuke's reaction.

"Alright, then. I should head to the station now. You guys go straight to your dorms, right?" Kai asked.

"Yeah, it's just few walks from here." Rin replied.

"Okay, just be careful. Wait, you'll be fine anyways. Your looks pretty intimidating enough that no one will mess with you." Kai made fun of them and Rin laughed.

"Well, then you should be careful, Kai-chan." Rin emphasized the –chan and patted Kai's head. Sousuke in the other hand, somewhat looked bothered with it.

"Cut it out, Rin-san." Kai glared. "Well, I'll see you later, guys!" Kai waved at them and walked to the station.

As Kai walked towards the station, Kai heaved a huge sigh. " ** _That was really tiring, but also refreshing. Man, I missed hanging out with my friends back at the US._** **_I wonder how they are now. Especially Jamie._** " Kai searched his phone and then he tried to look at his e-mail. The e-mail that he sent to Jamie wasn't replied at all.

" ** _She must be busy. Student council and stuff._** "

As Kai walked and looked at his phone, he felt someone tapped his shoulder. Kai quickly turned around and he was ready with his defensive stance, but his stance faltered when he realized who's the guy. "Sousuke?" Sousuke raised his hand and looked surprised when he saw Kai, especially when he was ready to attack Sousuke.

"H-Hey. I'm sorry if I scared you." Sousuke told Kai.

"It's okay. But what are you doing here? I thought you're going back with Rin-san." Kai said.

"Well," Sousuke scratched his head. "I kind of…have something to tell you…and I didn't manage to say it back when we parted." Sousuke said and there was silence as Sousuke was preparing for what he's about to say. "Today was really fun, for me. And thank you very much for coming. I know you would come and I didn't doubt you." Kai chuckled at Sousuke's sentence. Remembered of what Sousuke did to him.

"You're welcome and thank you again, Sousuke-san. But, I kind of wondered why did you invite me." Kai said.

"Well, I kind of lost a bet to Rin. And he challenged me to bring a friend for our hang out today." Kai chuckled again.

"Why me? You must have a lot of friend in Samezuka." But Kai's smile faltered when Sousuke shook his head.

"No. The only person that I consider as a friend, beside Rin, is you." Kai's eyes widened, then he saw Sousuke was a little bit sad and Kai approached him. He streched his arms out and wrap it around Sousuke's body. Sousuke flinched at the sudden motion, but he accepted it. He hugged Kai's shorter body and somehow to him it felt fit. Kai's head reached Sousuke's chest and he could put his chin on Kai's head. But, what he felt more was the warm. Sousuke was caught up by the moment, so he put both of his hands on Kai's cheek, and tilted it slightly then Sousuke planted a soft kiss on his forehead.

At the sudden gesture, Kai was frozen and didn't know how to react. They pulled themselves away and Kai looked at Sousuke in shock. Looking back at Kai, Sousuke panicked that Kai might not like it.

"I-I'm sorry! I… I just.. I f-felt like.." Sousuke stuttered.

"I-It's okay, S-Sousuke-san. I think I should be going before the next train come." Sousuke nodded but still confused whether Kai was angry or not.

"Right, I'll see you later, Kai." Sousuke managed to say.

"See you later." Kai was speed-walking towards the station and he was actually so nervous to speak to him after he kissed his forehead, he just wanted to leave soon.

" ** _Oh my gosh, what did he do what did he do what did he do to me?_** " Kai mumbled. And then, he put his hand on the part where Sousuke kissed and he suddenly went fuzzy and had butterflies.

" ** _This is so new to me, oh lord, I don't know how to react or even feel. But that was actually…really nice_**." Kai mumbled again. Kai finally reached the station and he got on his train to home.

* * *

 _A/N : Phew, that was quite long, but I actually had fun writing it. At the same time, I was wondering if Sousuke here is OOC. But, I kind of portrayed him this way. Please tell me if I've done something wrong in portraying him. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I already wrote the next chapter but I want to revise it before I update the chapter! Hehehehe~ Please a review for me! I'll appreciate it deeply. And sorry for any spelling errors or grammar mistakes. See ya at the next chappie~_


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello, guys! Woot, I brought you another chapter! I'm just so proud because I can update again. Well, we're going to continue where we left off at the previous chapter. And thanks for the supports, guys! Reviews, faves, and so on. Truly appreciated it. I'm going to let you read now.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club. I only own the OCs

* * *

 **CHAPTER 7**

 **Kai's POV**

So, prefectural was around the corner. I was nervous. I thought this nervousity was much worse than my nervousity when I was about to compete in figure skating. I was told to take part in the 100m backstroke. That means, I was up against Makoto. Although, I beated him when we first raced each other, he's still much more skilled than me. His strokes are the best. And me, I only made a come back to swimming. And my last practice before I joined Iwatobi Swim Club was years ago.

"Kai-kun, are you okay?" Makoto asked me. "You're spacing out."

"Oh?" I finally looked up to Makoto and everyone had already left the room except Makoto and I. "I-I'm fine, Tachibana-senpai. Thank you for asking. I think we should get going, huh? Everybody's leaving."

Makoto put a hand on my shoulder and took a seat beside me, "You can tell me anything, right? Are you nervous about prefectural?" I nodded slightly and joined him.

"I mean, this is new to me. I only joined you guys for quite a short time and suddenly I'm asked to join a competition. I can't help with being nervous. I don't want to screw up and disappoint you guys."

"You'll do fine, Kai-kun. You should know that you start here as an advanced swimmer. I mean, do I need to remind you how you won against all of us in our own specialties? I'm sure you'll qualify, Kai. And don't worry about disappointing us. We always appreciate all of your efforts, Kai." I smiled at him. Sometimes, Makoto just know what to talk. That's why I thought that he deserved to be our leader. "I'm sorry for asking you this and you don't have to answer it if you don't want to. But, does this coincide with your thing against competitions?" I thought that it's about time I explain a bit about my situation.

"Y-Yeah. Maybe I should tell you now, senpai, but please don't tell anyone. I'm still not ready with telling anyone about something really personal like this." So, I explained to him a bit about what my passion was and how it drove me to join competitions, until eventually it led me to a traumatizing experience.

"I'm, I'm really sorry, Kai-kun. I didn't expect that at all. I didn't know that competitions could affect you that harsh." Makoto rubbed my shoulders again. "I can understand now that you are trying to avoid to join any competitions. More like, you're afraid. You don't want to get hurt anymore." When I heard the word afraid, it reminded me of what Eri-san said. Maybe it's true. Maybe, I was afraid.

"Kai, if you really feel uncomfortable to compete in the prefectural, don't push yourself to compete. You can ask me anytime if you want to back down from the competition."

"No, senpai, it's okay. I mean, the competition is already tomorrow. It's too late for me to back down now." I smiled at Makoto. I felt bad if I trouble him more. "I just have to do my best tomorrow, right?"

"Alright." Makoto replied with his usual smile. "Thank you very much, Kai. I mean it. I'm pretty sure we all in the club are glad of you for partaking in the prefectural."

"I thank you too, senpai." I picked up my bag and stood up from my seat. Makoto followed me suit.

When I reached home, I found Obaa-chan was still gardening in front of the house. "Obaa-chan! I'm home!" As I greeted her, she turned towards me. "Ah, Kai-chan. Welcome home." She greeted me with a smile.

"What are you planting, Obaa-chan? It seems that you planted so many lately." I teased.

"Only this and that. I get to plant a lot since I have your mother to help me buy more seeds and fertilizer." Obaa-chan replied.

"Don't get yourself overworked, Obaa-chan. You should've rest more." I said while I hugged her from the back.

"Don't worry, Kai-chan. I may seem old, but I'm still one heck of a healthy lady." Obaa-chan replied and I chuckled in response. "How was school today, Kai-chan?"

"I'm doing good, Obaa-chan. And tomorrow my school's swimclub will be competing in the prefectural." I responded. "Oh, and my school's swimclub will also be competing with Sousuke-san's school's swimclub."

"Is that so? Good luck to you, dear. And make sure you have a good rest." Obaa-chan told me while caressing both of my hands. "Ah, speaking of Sousuke-chan, he's actually inside right now."

"Hm? He's here?" I asked. "You know, you should take advantage of his big body. Like helping you with the gardening, lifting up bags of fertilizer and such."

"He's not my work slave, Kai-chan." Obaa-chan scolded me. "And lately, he asked me to not ask him to lift up things because he's trying to give his shoulders a rest, for swimming purpose."

"I see." I replied. "I'm going to head in first, Obaa-chan! I'll help with dinner since Mother still out."

"Alright, dear. I'll finish this up quick and join you two." I entered the house and I saw no sign of Sousuke. I thought that he's probably taking a leak, so I decided to go to my room and take a shower. After I took a refreshing cold shower, I put on a black tank and navy blue cargo short. When I entered the living room, I saw Sousuke was sitting on the couch while playing with his phone.

"Ah. Hello, Sousuke-san. How are you?" I greeted him and when he looked up at me from his phone, he looked surprised like I caught him doing something suspicious. I wondered if he really was doing something suspicious with his phone. Either way, I walked towards him. "Care to help me fixing dinner?" He nodded to me and we made our way to the kitchen.

When I checked the fridge and saw many vegetables, I decided to make a stir-fry. And I thought some cooked meat would be good too. So, I splitted works with Sousuke, he helped me with cooking the rice and I cooked the stir-fry.

"Kai." Sousuke called me and I turned to him from the stove. "Good luck for the prefectural. I know you're a good swimmer, so I won't hold back."

Wait, what? "I'm going to compete in the 100m backstroke event tomorrow. Are you going to compete in that event too? I thought you're the best butterfly swimmer."

"Are you saying that you're not competing in the relay?" I chuckled at his response. "Of course not, silly. I'm not that good enough for that. And Haruka-senpai, Makoto-senpai, Nagisa-kun, and Rei-kun have a very good chemistry together. It's for the best that the four of them are in the relay. I'll probably ruin it if I were to compete in the relay."

"Stop selling yourself short." Sousuke scolded me. "You are already a skilled swimmer, so be confident with yourself." I only shrugged to it. Skills alone won't guarantee your victory in terms of relay, in my opinion.

"Alright, alright." I chuckled. "Just go check the rice and make sure it's good enough for Obaa-chan."

"What, you think that I would ruin it?"

"That's up to you to think that or not, Sousuke-san. I only told you to check the rice." I replied with a sly grin.

"So, are you nervous about tomorrow?" Sousuke asked me while he was checking the rice.

"You could say that. This is my first swim competition, you know. And, it's been a while since I joined any competition. I just don't want to screw up or do something embarrassing."

"Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe out of the sudden my jammers was ripped off and I ended up swimming naked, but then I was too embarrassed so I ran away from the swimming pool while covering my pee-pee." The next thing was that I heard Sousuke stifled a laugh.

"See? If that happened you would laugh at me. Everybody would laugh at me. Or probably saying, 'Look at this pathetic excuse for a human being.'" And Sousuke suddenly laughed out loud.

"Ya, stop it!" I yelled at him while threatening him to hit him with the ladle.

"Sorry, sorry. But that was too funny and unexpected." Sousuke replied, trying to lower my weapon. "I'll go set the table up."

After Sousuke prepared the table and put everything we cooked at the table, Mother arrived soon after. The dinner was quite lively, especially Mother talked about the prefectural. She also said that she's going to Osaka for a few days because of her fashion design work. When we were done with dinner, I helped Obaa-chan getting back to her room while Mother and Sousuke helped cleaning the dishes.

I heard Sousuke saying goodbyes to Mother when I entered the living room again. I decided to walk him to the station. Our walk there was actually quiet, but we still enjoyed each other company. And finally, we reached the station.

"Right. I'll see you tomorrow, Kai." Sousuke told me.

"Yep. Have good rest, Sousuke-san." I gave him a small smile.

But then, out of the sudden, Sousuke wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed my forehead. That was the second time. And the second time I was flustered by his sudden action. I could feel my forehead a little bit hot after Sousuke kissed it. When I looked up at Sousuke, which so up close, he smiled at me. His gentle and warm smile I saw when we were at the beach.

"You know, I don't mind seeing you butt naked when you swim tomorrow." Sousuke put on his smirk and he put his lips near my left ear. "I mean, they are really cute." He whispered.

"Wha-" He indeed made me speechless and he softly laughed at me.

"Okay, I'll stop teasing you." Sousuke let his arms go from me. "Good night, Kai." Sousuke turned his back to me and walked to the station. I only stood there, watching him disappear into the station while holding my chest which I remember was beating so fast.

* * *

The day at the prefectural, I didn't know that I was more nervous than I thought. When we enter the place, it was actually crowded. I was surprised that so many people could be watching. Then, me and the rest of the team went into the locker room to change into our jammers. I was changing quite slow because I was in a deep thought. This competition scenario reminded me on my times I was competing in any junior figure skating championships.

"Kai-chan!" I heard someone chirped behind me. I turned my head and saw Nagisa and Rei approached me. "How are you feeling?"

"Hm?" I responded. "Quite nervous, you see."

"Well, it's a common thing to be nervous, Kai-chan." Nagisa replied. "Rei-chan too was really nervous at his first swimming competition."

I looked at Rei scowling at Nagisa, denying the truth. "I was just really concerned Nagisa. That's all."

"Aw, Rei-chan. It's the same." I swear they were bickering like an old couple, but I still found it cute.

And then, I saw Makoto approached me and Haru joined Nagisa and Rei but he looked like didn't care of their bickering. "Kai-kun. Are you ready?"

"Yeah, you guys can go out first. I'll be with you guys in a moment." They all walked out of the locker room and as I was trying to put my bag on my locker, I heard a buzzing sound from my bag. I opened my bag and searched for my buzzing phone and when I looked at it, it's an unknown number. But, I decided to answer it.

"Hello."

" _Excuse me, is this Kai Roberts?_ " I heard a young woman from the phone.

"Yes, it's me."

" _Are you a relative to Mitsuru Suzumiya?_ "

"Yes, I'm her grandson. What's wrong?"

" _Oh thank goodness! My name is Reika Ayuzawa. I've been trying to reach any relative of Suzumiya-san. The thing is I found your grandmother unconscious on the street so I took her to the nearest hospital. The doctor needs a relative to be present, so, can you come here as soon as possible? I'll message you the location._ " I almost dropped my phone and I hurriedly took my bag out from my lockers and took out my clothes.

"Y-Yes, I'll go as soon as possible! I-I'm really sorry for troubling you, Miss Ayuzawa! Please send me the location. Thank you very much!" I hanged up my phone and quickly changed back into my normal clothes. I ran out from the locker room and I couldn't even care what happened at the prefectural. I left the venue and made my way to the hospital. On my way there, my heart was beating so fast. I was full with worries. Obaa-chan was my support too. The thought of losing her would probably break me even more.

After I reached the hospital, I quickly asked the receptionist where was Obaa-chan being treated and I speed-walked to her room. When I almost arrived, I saw two people, one man and one woman, sitting near the door of Obaa-chan's room, talking with each other.

"Excuse me?" I asked the lady with a huffed voice. "Are you Miss Reika Ayuzawa?"

The lady looked at me and with a surprised face. "Ah, are you Kai Roberts?" I nodded and I immediately bowed to her and the man sitting next to her.

"I'm really sorry for troubling you. And thank you very much for bringing my grandmother here." I said while still bowing to them. "Please, if there's someway to repay you both, I'll definitely do it."

"Ah, please no. Don't trouble yourself. We're really fine." Miss Reika replied. "Since you're already here, my brother and I are going to leave her to you. Just take care of her, okay?" She and her brother got up the chair. I could only give my thanks and apology to both of them. After they left, I entered the room and found Obaa-chan still unconscious on the bed. I took a chair so I can sit next to her.

"Obaa-chan." I sighed while holding her hand. "I'm sorry." I laid my head next to her and I felt tired all of the sudden. But then, I suddenly remembered about something.

"The prefectural!" I looked for the clock and saw the time. Looking at the time, my event was already way over and I thought that the prefectural was almost concluded for the day. I sighed to myself because I felt bad. I didn't tell everyone at the team that Obaa-chan was hospitalized. I just left all of the sudden. I grabbed my phone and texted all of them from Makoto, Haruka, Nagisa, Rei, and Gou. Even though I messaged them, I still had to apologize to them properly. When I was done, I put my phone on the night stand next to Obaa-chan's bed and rested my head again beside her.

My nap was interrupted when someone tapped on my shoulder. I woke up quickly and saw that a doctor was the one who woke me up. "I-I'm sorry, Doctor." I got up and then bowed to him. "I'm Kai. I'm Mitsuru Suzumiya's grandson."

"I see. I'm glad you're here." The doctor smiled at me gently. "Let's talk outside." The doctor led me out and he explained what happened to Obaa-chan. She had a small concussion because she fell, so that's why she was unconscious. I thought maybe her legs gave up or something, so I decided to ask her when she woke up. The doctor said the she needed to stay at the hospital for few days before she's discharged. After the explanation, the doctor left me and I sat at the chair nearby. I sighed with relieve because nothing bad happened to Obaa-chan. I thought that maybe I should tell her to stop gardening too much. It probably took her energy quite enough. I stood up soon after, trying to find a vending machine, so I could find a soda to cool my head. When I sat on the chair next to the vending machine and put the can of cold soda on my forehead, I felt relaxed.

"Kai-kun!" I jerked up when I heard someone called my name down the hallway. As I turned my head to the source of the voice, I was surprised to see quite a lot people coming my way. There were Makoto, Nagisa, Gou, Rei, Haru, and…Sousuke. I felt really bad to have to face all of them, but I had to apologize to them.

"Kai-chan, what happened? You left all of the sudden!" Nagisa jumped to me and hugged me while rubbing his face on my left cheek.

After Nagisa pulled apart, I quickly bowed to them. "I'm sorry for leaving the prefectural all of the sudden. Please, if there's a penalty fee or some sort, I'll be responsible for it." I said. "I'm really sorry for letting you guys down."

"Kai-kun, it's okay. We understand." Makoto said to me and I felt his hand on my shoulder. "I completely understand if you prioritize your family over swimming," I looked up to him and then I looked at everyone's worried face. I could feel that I almost tearing up.

"Thank you, senpai." I replied. "I'm sorry too for not there to cheer you guys."

"It's okay, really. You don't have to worry about us." Makoto said. "More importantly, are you okay? Is your grandma okay?"

"My grandma is okay." I explained to them what happened to Obaa-chan. "Thank you, guys, for worrying about me. But really, you don't have to come here. I know it's trouble for you guys to come here. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing." I heard Sousuke spoke to me as he walked up to me. He gave me a water bottle. "Sit down and drink it. You don't look so good." I blushed a bit and I could only comply.

"Here." Sousuke put out a snack bar from his bag. "Eat this too."

I looked up to him, embarrassed. "T-Thank you, Sousuke-san." He only grunted in response and sat next to me. The next thing, we talked about things normally, from the prefectural and such. After quite some time, they decided to leave the hospital.

"You guys can leave first. I'm gonna get my things and check on Obaa-chan for a bit." After saying goodbyes, everyone left, except Sousuke.

"You're not coming back with them?" I asked.

"Let me walk you home." He replied.

"B-But, you don't ha-"

"Where's Obaa-chan's room?" He started to walk away from and I could only run after him.

* * *

After both Sousuke and I checked on Obaa-chan, we walked home together. It's quiet as always and held that same comfortable feeling too. But, we are still far away from home, so I decided to start a conversation.

"So, how are you doing, Sousuke-san?"

"Hm?" Sousuke looked at me. "I'm fine. My team did well at the prefectural today. It's up to the relay tomorrow."

"Mhm. That's great news. I wish you the very best luck for tomorrow."

"I don't need luck."

"Jeez, so cocky. Where was that guy I talked to at the beach the other day?"

I could see Sousuke grinned at me but I kept my face straight at the road in front of me. When we were in front of my house, we only stopped there. I walked towards the gate and turned to Sousuke.

"Thanks for walking me home, Sousuke-san." I smiled at him. "I know you should've just rest up for tomorrow, but you decided to take me home. So, really, thank you."

Sousuke only nodded and looked back at me. We're staring at each other for so long, there I was waiting for what Sousuke about to say, but it seemed that nothing came out.

"Erm, Sousuke-san? Is something the matter?" I asked him slowly.

"A-Ah… No…" but then I heard Sousuke mumbled a bit, " _I guess not today_." And I thought, what's not today.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Kai. Just update me if anything happened to Obaa-chan. Good night." He turned and walked away towards the station. I was kind of confused for a second but then I said good night to him while waving my hand to him.

I entered my house and it was dark. And I was the only person in there. And then something hit me.

"Wait a second," I paused, "Was Sousuke waiting for me let him stay the night with me?" That realization or a suggestion, you might call, made me blush and it made feel dumb because of clueless I was. But at that time, I didn't know exactly what Sousuke wanted. I didn't know if Sousuke actually wanted to stay the night with me. With that thought, I went to my bathroom and immediately jumped to bed.

* * *

The next day was the second day of the prefectural. Makoto, Nagisa, Rei, and Haruka were preparing and I saw the Samezuka's team next to them. When I looked at them, the Samezuka team really looked formidable. I could sense their strong competitive prowess. But, I knew our team is strong too.

The relay was about to start and Makoto was the first to swim. When the relay started, I was surprised to see Makoto had a late start. Gou, Amakata-sensei, Coach Sasabe, and I were really anxious if our team would catch up. It was fortunate that Makoto had very good strokes, so he caught up. But he didn't catch up to the Samezuka team. The race was still going and it was Nagisa's turn. Nagisa too didn't manage to catch up to Samezuka. And it finally was Rei's turn and I saw Sousuke too. I was really surprised to see Sousuke. He was really fast and he seemed to widen the gap between Rei and himself. That was getting me more anxious than before.

But, before Sousuke could tag to Rin, I could see something was wrong with Sousuke. It slowed him for a moment, but he kept swimming to Rin. And finally, Rin started to swim, followed by Haru. They were both so fast, Haru managed to reduce the gap between Rin and himself. They swam closer and closer to the finish, eager for the win.

The whistle was blowed and I was shocked at the result. Our team…just lost. I saw our team looking depressed and I heard the Samezuka team was shouting their victory cry. But, another person wasn't joining with his team, cheering, and it was Sousuke. I thought that something really wrong with him and I wondered what it is. Was Sousuke not satisfied with the record they made, or was it about that time Sousuke lost his momentum? In the end, I was still glad that our team made it to the regionals.

"C'mon, guys! Cheer up! You should not let that lost bother you so much because you still have the regionals to prepare for." I spoke to them while we walked back home. "And if you really want to go further, you still have to do better than that. I'll swim with you guys so we can get better and better and better!" The guys turned to me and they smiled to me widely. Nagisa started to cheer again, Rei began to show his enthusiasm to swim better, and so on. I was glad that I could cheer them up.

The next day, when we were about to train, we saw a huge banner congratulating the swim club for making it through to the regionals. It was surprising for them because they said that they didn't get this much recognition by the school. Still, things turned out the best for our team and I was really glad. Before we started training, Gou had told Makoto, Haruka, Nagisa, and Rei about their own time at the prefectural and they need to improve that. So, I decided to help them with trying to race them with their own specialties. Amakata-sensei suddenly came to us, telling the good news about Haru being scouted. Haru seemed to disregard it and when I looked at Makoto, he showed this worried face that I actually been seeing from few days ago.

"Makoto-senpai, are you okay?"

"Eehh?!" Makato seemed surprised at my question. "A-Ah… No, Kai-kun, there's nothing to worry about. Let's go train, shall we?" Makoto jumped to the pool and I eyed him suspicious.

"There's something to worry about, Makoto-senpai."

After practice, I quickly left the school and told them that I was going to check Obaa-chan. When I arrived at the hospital, I talked to the doctor for a bit and he said that Obaa-chan can be discharged the day after tomorrow. After that, I walked to Obaa-chan's room. I saw Obaa-chan was watching a TV and I let a sigh of relief.

"Hello, Obaa-chan." I greeted. "It seems you're doing fine." I approached her bed and sat next to her bed.

"Kai-chan." She greeted me with her usual kindly expression. "I'm really sorry to make you worry."

"No, it's okay, Obaa-chan." I replied. "I'm the one who should be sorry for not being there for you."

"Kai-chan, no. You were busy at the prefectural, right? You don't have to be sorry." Obaa-chan told me while holding my hand. "How was it? Did you make it through?"

"A-Ah… about that." I scratched my head. "You know, when I received a call about you're being taken to the hospital, I immediately ran towards the hospital and left the competitions like it's not my business anymore. So, I didn't compete in my event."

"Is that so?" She asked me with a worried tone. "I'm really sorry, Kai-chan. It was the foolish me that caused me this and made you ran to here."

"No, Obaa-chan. It will be foolish of me if I didn't run to you." I buried my head on the bed next to her. "It's okay that I lost that event. But I can't if I lose you, Obaa-chan."

I felt Obaa-chan's hand carressing my head. "You really remind me of your grandfather. You might not remember him much because you're still a little, but he was such a sweet heart and gentleman just like you."

"Yeah, I wished I had more time to get to know him better. Mother said Ojii-chan was really the best father my mother could ask for."

"He really was." She said. "The moment he left all of us, it felt…grey to me."

"Grey?" I asked.

"It was indeed a really sad day. But I remembered that I felt emotionless. I couldn't cry while the others could. No matter how hard I was trying to make myself cry, but I couldn't manage myself to drop a single tear. Maybe, it's because he was such a huge important part of my life. So, I felt empty when he's gone. I could only accept it. Accept it that your grandfather is in the better place."

I could feel myself tearing up and I couldn't even say anything. When Obaa-chan looked at me, she chuckled and wiped the tears from both of my eyes.

"I remember. When your grandfather died, Sousuke-chan did cry a lot. And I remember you came to cheer him up."

"Cheer him up? But I was only a baby." I asked confusedly. "And I actually have met him before?"

"You really do forget that time, don't you?" Obaa-chan chuckled again. "You were only 4 but you're smart. You even know to cheer up people at that age."

"What did I say to him? I don't seem to remember any of it."

"I didn't know what you said. But, after I saw you came and talked to Sousuke-chan, he looked a little bit better."

I really didn't know. Why didn't Sousuke tell me that I have met him before? On my first day here, he acted like he just met me. Did he forget too or did he pretend to forget? We continued to talk about random things, like her plants and so on, until I realized that it's getting late.

"Obaa-chan, I'm going home now. The last train will be arrived soon."

"Alright, have a safe trip back to home, Kai-chan." I walked towards the door and when I was about to open the door, Obaa-chan called me. "Don't forget to water my plants, dear."

"Yes, Obaa-chan. I haven't missed a single day and a single plant." I saw Obaa-chan smiled happily at me and I closed the door.

* * *

One day, we decided to go to the shrine and prayed for our luck. Everyone got a Great Luck, but Rei and I got a Half Luck. Rei told me that actually getting Half Luck is pretty rare and he thought that it's special. Well, I didn't think that much. As far as I still have some luck with me, I'm sure that I'll be fine. Haruka walked away from us and Rei followed him after that. Nagisa followed Rei too not long enough, so there was only Makoto and I near the shrine.

"Makoto-senpai, I can't help but think that something really bothers you." I told Makoto.

"Ehh? Why do you think that?"

"It's obviously written all over your face." I responded and I saw Makoto looked like he was caught red handed.

"Is it about Haruka-senpai?" Makoto only nodded.

"I'm worried too, if you ask me. I think he has a great future if he continued to the world of swim competitions, but from how he reacts lately, I don't think he want to go there. In my opinion, he should figure it out by himself, what he really wants and he wants to be free, right? So, I think we should let him be. We should not push our expectations too much towards him because that will not help him, in my opinion. What we're going to do for him is just to support him on whatever decision he's making. And more importantly, we take care of ourselves too. I'm sure now you're still thinking about your own future. Right, senpai?"

"Y-Yeah…"

"I know you're really concerned about him, senpai, because you two are really close. But, I'm sure Haruka-senpai will found his answer soon enough."

"Thanks for telling me this, Kai-kun." Makoto smiled to me. "Somehow I feel a bit relieved. I'm just really worried about him, since I want what's best for him."

"I understand, Makoto-senpai. And I'm sure Haruka-senpai wants the best for you too. Let's just keep supporting each other, okay?" After we nodded to each other, we decided to return to our homes.

* * *

When I got home, I saw the lights already on. So, I was guessing that Mother already came home, which I thought was quicker than I expected.

" ** _I'm back_**!" I walked inside and I only heard ruffling and typing. The sight I got in the living room was full of Mother's fashion design works. She's typing on her laptop while surrounded by sketches and clothes.

" ** _Kai! I'm sorry that I didn't hear you coming._** " My mother said with a tired look on her face. " ** _I'm sorry again for not coming home soon enough. I really tried my best to finish my work there._** "

" ** _But, you have not._** " I replied. " ** _You brought all of your work here._** "

I sighed, " ** _It's okay, Mother. If you could stay there longer, you could finish your work. You even have a group of staff there. You don't have to worry about me. I can take care of Obaa-chan._** "

" ** _But, still…_** " Mother whined. " ** _Obaa-chan told me that you bailed the prefectural. Are you okay?_** "

" ** _….yeah. I'm fine_** "

" ** _You sure?_** " Mother asked " ** _I was kind of afraid when I first heard that you're going to compete. Because… you know…_** "

I gave her a confirming sound. " ** _I know._** "

" ** _Alright. I just want to make sure that you're okay._** " I smiled to her. " ** _Anyways, do you want to help me with my work?_** "

" ** _What is it?_** " I gave her a suspicious look.

" ** _Do you want to be my photographer for my shoot or… do you want to be my model for this outfit?_** "

" ** _Modelling? Again?_** " I protested. " ** _And I don't photograph people. I always photograph sceneries and landscapes._** "

" ** _Pleaseee, sweat pea! I beg of you._** " Mother began using her begging puppy face. " ** _I'll give you 3 months supplies of your favourite bucket ice cream! Vanilla flavour!_** "

After a moment of deliberation, " ** _Make it 5_**."

" ** _Okay! 5 months!_** " Mother replied. " ** _6 if you help me as a photographer too!_** "

Without hesitation…" ** _I'm sold! I'm your slave._** " That's how it was for me when Mother used ice creams in our negotiations. It guaranteed 99,99999% working. Mother said the work start in few days, she had to finish the clothes first and then wait for the female model to come to our house.

* * *

After our swimming practice, Makoto told me that he helped Coach Sasabe to coach at the Iwatobi SCR. Haruka didn't look interested, as always, he said he just wanted to swim by his own. Nagisa told us that he wanted to focus on both studying and swimming so he can make it to the nationals. And Rei wanted to perfect the other swimming styles beside butterfly. Somehow, I felt jealous of them. Because they have something to do and I was there, sometimes being clueless.

"It's really great that you guys have something to focus on. Just don't forget to make sure you guys can make it through to the nationals!" I cheered them up.

"Of course, Kai-chan!" Nagisa claimed, "Do you have anything that you wanted to focus on, Kai-chan?"

I thought for a moment but nothing seemed to come out. I have no interest to improve myself in swimming. It's not that I'm bragging, but I didn't have the drive to improve like the others. I just wanted to have fun, that's all. And also, figure skating. I still hadn't found my answer. Whether I should give this up or not. I thought that I could only stick to coach the kids to figure skate. And I just remembered that I had to coach them today.

"Kai-kun?" I heard Makoto called and pulled me from my trance. When I looked at him, he looked at me with a worried face and so did everyone.

"Y-Yeah?" I replied. "I-I'm sorry, I was spacing out a little. By the way, I remembered that I have something to do later on, so I will leave practice early."

"Oh, okay." Makoto told me as I walked towards the pool.

* * *

When it was one hour before the coaching, I said my goodbyes to the club members and left. After I arrived at the ice skating centre, Eri-san greeted me first. "Ah, Kai! You finally came!"

"Good afternoon, Eri-san. Is something the matter?"

"I'd like to ask you a favor, actually." I gave her a questioning look.

"Well, it's about this event I hold annually here. It's just to only entertain our fellow members here who mostly are the kids and also to entertain their parents. They mostly like want to see how are their kids doing with their practices."

"Okay, and the favor you're talking about?"

"See, in this event, the kids sign up individually if they want to perform. I want to open this new event when the kids can go in a group and one coach, to perform one short routine. We're always short on coaches, so that's why I haven't made this event available. But, since we have you, we can at least have 5 teams and that means I can finally add this event."

"Is this a sort of a competition?" I curiously asked.

"Just a little bit. We're going to award them best performance and such. But, it's no pressure. The point is that everybody had fun in this event. Sometimes it saddened me to see the younger kids can't participate because they are too scared on their own. So, I thought when they are in teams and with the guidance of their coach, they can have fun too in this event."

"Oh, I see." I smiled at her. "It's very nice of you, Eri-san. You can definitely count me in. When is this event?"

"This Sunday."

"What?!" I exclaimed. "I-I'm sorry for shouting, but isn't that too short? They only have like 5 days to train, including today."

"Oh, it's alright. I already assigned you to a team. Of course, you're going with the younger kids you coached, Tetsuya, Misaki, and Mai. They are actually so eager, they are bickering with each other to decide how are they going to perform."

"Okay, then. The soon we are set on what we're going to do for the routine, the better. I'll go get changed." I walked away to the changing room and I heard Eri wished me good luck.

When I entered the ice rink, I saw Tetsuya, Misaki, and Mai were talking to each other. I quickly approached them.

"Hello, kiddos!" I greeted. "I'm sorry I'm a bit late. But anyway, I heard from Eri-san about the event this Sunday. How are you guys doing?"

"Aahh Kai-niisan! I-I'm really nervous about this…" Mai said. Eri was correct about the younger kids being afraid to participate.

"It's okay, you guys. You have me! I'll make sure you will do fine." I encouraged them. "So, do you guys have thought anything? We only have 1 and half minute for our routine. We can choose the music first and I'll come up with routine, okay?" So, I let them decide to what music they use for the routine and they decided to use this ending song from Super Mario World game. I thought that could be really refreshing, so I decided to come along with it. After they let me hear the music, it's actually a fun music with a good beat and little bit of a waltz taste. So, while I was hearing the music, I was also thinking about the moves for the routine.

"Alright! I already have the idea of what we should do. Let's use the rink after everyone's done." When we had the rink for ourselves, I started out practice. We practiced the movements, the turns, the jumps, and the spins. We practiced until the sun was almost set, but we didn't actually know it because we were so into the practice. I told them to come again the next day to continue our practice. From that moment, I knew that week was going to be a very busy week for me. First, I had the fashion shoot for my mother and second, this figure skating event.

For the next few days, I kept practicing with my small team. Of course, I was going to be with them when they are performing. It's actually a bit difficult for me because I had to make sure that I didn't go overboard because those kids are the one who supposed to shine.

It was Saturday, I told the kids the day before this that they should use this Saturday to rest because they were actually had been working too hard for this. I didn't want them to be fatigued because that will ruin their performance. When I was about to go to the living room, I saw the room was a bit hectic with Mother's works.

" ** _Ah, Kai! The female model that I told you before is coming here soon. So, let's prepare for the shoot._** " I helped Mother after that, preparing the camera equipment. The set for the photo shoot was in the backyard. So, our lighting would be the sunlight. And because of that, I had to make sure that when I took a picture, the models, including myself, would get the best lighting. Mother soon asked me to try out again the clothes she told me to wear. Well, Mother actually designed many pieces of clothing and you can combine them differently to create an outfit. So, she had like almost a hundred pieces clothing, shirts, t-shirts, tanks, jackets, hoodies, shorts, trousers, jeans, shoes, boots, and hats. She worked on a bigger scale than before. I told Mother on how to operate the camera because when I'm modelling, I can't use the camera, of course.

After the model came to our house, she introduced herself to Mother and I. Mother tried to do the fitting again on Mika. Finally, we started doing the shoot. We had the individual shoot first and then we shot as a team. We kept doing the shoot while Obaa-chan occasionally came to the backyard to supply us with foods and drinks. I told her to rest, but she insisted that she's already okay to walk around. My beloved Obaa-chan is as active as ever.

The shoot ended at right before we almost lost our light. They were all came really good. A few retouches probably would make those really great. Mother said to Mika that she already transferred her pay check. Obaa-chan already prepared dinner, so Mother invited Mika for dinner before she leave. We had a lively dinner as ever and I told them about tomorrow event. Mother and Obaa-chan surely would go there, but Mika could only wish she could go there, she apparently to be needed at Osaka tomorrow. After the dinner, I took Mika to the train station, had a little chat together until we reach the station. We said our goodbyes and I was finally alone.

" ** _What a day…_** " I sighed, " ** _I just want to sleep right now and I still have tomorrow. I had to go early because we need to practice one last time before we perform_**." I sighed again and walked back to home.

* * *

 **3rd Person POV**

Kai woke up earlier because he had to run at the ice skating centre for the preparation. He made a quick breakfast while the rest in the house was still sleeping in their rooms. After a while, Sayaka woke up and took a shower, made a breakfast for both herself and Mitsuru. After that, she continued her work until it's time to go visit the ice skating centre.

Meanwhile, Sousuke decided to do some cardio training by jogging around. He also intended to visit the Suzumiya's house, so he made that as his final stop. He's finally almost arrived at the Suzumiya's house but he came across into Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa, and Rei. Sousuke stopped for a moment and the four of them were also quiet until Nagisa broke the silence.

"Ah! Sou-chan!" Sousuke twitched one of his brows when he heard Nagisa greetings. "What are you doing here?"

"Visiting someone." Sousuke shortly asked. Makoto and Haruka looked at Sousuke with a little bit of concern.

"Anyway, Yamazaki-san." Makoto said. "Do you happen to know where Kai lives? I heard his house is around here somewhere."

"Why do you want to know?" Sousuke asked.

"We want to visit him of course. Do you know the way, Sou-chan?" Nagisa replied.

"If you use –chan again, I'll-" Sousuke stopped when a voice called up to him.

"Sousuke-kun! Hello!" Sousuke was surprised to see Sayaka and Mitsuru were approaching him.

"G-Good morning, Sayaka-san, Mitsuru-san." Sousuke bowed. "Are you two going somewhere?"

"Yes, apparently." Sayaka looked towards the four teens next to Sousuke. "Ah are they your friends? Good morning, kids."

"Good morning." The four of them bowed.

"Excuse me, miss, I'm sorry for intruding, but do you know the house of Kai Roberts?" Makoto asked.

"Miss? I'm actually not that young to be called 'Miss' anymore." Sayaka chuckled. "And, I know where Kai Roberts lives because you're looking at his mother and grandmother."

The four of them looked surprised and they bowed to Sayaka and Mitsuru again, except Haruka. "Are you Kai's friends? Well, he didn't tell us about the friends he made at school." Sayaka said.

"Kai is not at home right now, my dears. He's actually at the ice skating centre because he's joining an event there. We both want to see him there." Mitsuru spoke. "Rather than waiting for him to come back home, which would took several hours, do you want to come with us and go see him?"

* * *

 **A/N: Hooooo boy this chapter is actually really long that I didn't realize it at first. Please leave me a review and fave and follow if you like! That would be the greatest support for me to keep continuing this story. I'm sorry for any mistakes and errors. See you at the next chapter!**


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